Public/private fundraising effort begins for new library

Tue, 09/06/2016 - 4:45pm

ROCKPORT — Town leaders in Rockport will decide Thursday evening, Sept. 8, whether to place a proposal before voters in November to borrow up to $2 million to help construct a $4 million library in Rockport Village. The vote to place the article on the Nov. 8 warrant will follow a public hearing on the matter, as well as public hearings on two additional proposed ordinance changes, and a motion to place a proposed Region 8 Mid-Coast School of Technology Referendum Warrant on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The latter referendum will ask voters in the Midcoast to split the cost of a new 90,000 square-foot, $25 million school to be built on the existing technology school site on the Rockland waterfront.

The design and architectural details of the new library, although not completely finished, calls for a two-story building on the site where the existing, albeit vacated, library sits. Immediately following the public hearing, the town’s Budget Committee is to convene to further discuss the library warrant article, and the estimated 3.8 percent interest rate on the $2 million bond.

If the bond is approved, and the 3.9 percent interest rate is secured, voters can anticipate paying $891,381 in interest over a 20-year period.

The proposed warrant article asks voters to approve, “the design, construction and equipping of a new library building at 1 Limerock Street, including demolition of existing improvements on the property and other site work.”

The Thursday evening public hearings will begin at 7 p.m. and will be held in the Rockport Opera House downstairs meeting room. The meeting will be televised on public access Channel 22 and streamed live at livestream.com/Rockportmaine.

The Sept. 8 agenda also includes public hearings on two other November municipal warrant articles. They include:

ARTICLE 2. Shall an Ordinance entitled, “Ordinance amending the Town of Rockport Road Acceptance Ordinance to allow requests that the Town take ownership of private roads or portions of private roads to be presented to the voters after 25 percent of the abutting lots are developed, provided that any such private road or portion of a private road creates a new linkage between two existing public roads and other conditions are met,” be enacted?

ARTICLE 3. Shall an Ordinance entitled, “Ordinance repealing the Town of Rockport Sidewalk Ordinance,” be enacted?

The proposed library

The Select Board met with the Rockport Budget Committee in mid-August to apprise the committee of the proposed warrant article.

At that meeting, the discussion focused on the design of the library, and progress to date of informing the citizens about the project. There was also discussion about why the rooftop garden patio had been eliminated from the design (the ad hoc library planning committee had voted 5 to 4 at its previous meeting against that design feature), and the private fundraising effort that is quietly now underway to secure the other $2 million for the building project.

There was also concern about the need for a completed design to present to voters, and a uniform outreach effort to the citizens and, said Rockport Town Manager Rick Bates, to inform “a bunch of people in the middle who don’t know” about the project.

According to Town Manager Rick Bates, no construction will take place until all of the money has been raised or pledged. A pledge, according to library planning committee Chairman Jan Rosenbaum, is a legally binding commitment to donate money to a given purpose. The pledges are collateral, he said, and the bills would covered by the bank to which a pledge is tied.

The proposed Nov. 8 warrant article language follows:

ARTICLE 4. To see if the Town will vote to:

(1) Approve the design, construction and equipping of a new library building at 1 Limerock Street, including demolition of existing improvements on the property and other site work (the “Project”);

(2) Appropriate a sum not to exceed $2,000,000 for the costs of the Project;

(3) To fund the appropriation in (2) above, and, provided the Town has received donation commitments or funds from other revenue sources in an amount at least as large as $2 million, authorize the Treasurer and the Chairman of the Select Board to issue, at one time or from time to time, general obligation securities of the Town of Rockport, Maine, including temporary notes in anticipation of the sale thereof and future refunding obligations, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $2,000,000, and to delegate to the Treasurer and Chairman of the Select Board the authority and discretion to fix the date(s), maturity(ies), denomination(s), interest rate(s), places(s) of payment, call(s) for redemption, current or advance refunding(s) of the securities, form(s), and other details of said securities, including execution and delivery of said securities against payment therefore, execution of certificates, loan agreements and any other documents reasonably related thereto, and to provide for the sale thereof.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Total Town Indebtedness:
A. Bonds outstanding and unpaid:

Bonds authorized and unissued:
Bonds to be issued if this Article is approved:

Total: $ 4,314,712.32

$ 2,314,712.32 $ 0.00 $ 2,000,000.00

Costs:
At an estimated interest rate of 3.8 percent for an estimated 20-year maturity, the estimated costs of this bond issue will be:
Principal:
Interest:
Total Estimated Debt Service:

Validity: The validity of the bonds and the voters’ ratification of the bonds may not be affected by any errors in the above estimates. If the actual amount of the total debt service for the bond issue varies from the estimate, the ratification by the electors is nevertheless conclusive and the validity of the bond issue is not affected by reason of the variance.

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