Shawville-Clarendon library gets more funds, work begins by Jonathan Crowe
The Equity, Oct. 29, 2003

SHAWVILLE — With additional funds coming at almost the last possible minute, the Shawville-Clarendon Library is set to begin construction immediately.

Clarendon Mayor Jack Lang and Shawville Mayor Albert Armstrong received word from Pontiac MNA Charlotte L’Écuyer Thursday evening that their application for an increased Resource Region grant had been accepted.

“I was speechless for five or 10 seconds with Charlotte,” said Armstrong.

The new grant increases the provincial funding for the library to $508,231 from $276,484. Each municipality will also kick in an additional $44,000, bringing the total contribution from each to about $150,000.

It has not yet been determined how the municipalities will come up with the extra money. Multi-year budgeting and borrowing are two options.

The additional funds mean that the library’s design will not have to be scaled back in order to proceed.

“We didn’t cut anything,” said Lang.

The funds may not have come a moment too soon. DLS Construction’s bid was only good for 60 days after the Aug. 27 deadline for tenders. It was set to expire Sunday, which meant that for all practical purposes the contract needed to be signed no later than Friday.

“It was getting to be nerve-wracking,” said Lang.

“We were 99 per cent sure we were going to get it, but you can’t go on 99, you want 100,” he added.

Armstrong agreed. “It was very stressful,” he said.

Armstrong and Lang were in Aylmer to sign the contract Friday. Had that not happened, the bidding process would have had to begin all over again — and, with higher winter construction costs, the bids would quite likely have been even higher.

The library ran into trouble in September when the bids came in much higher than originally budgeted for.

Construction costs had risen since they had budgeted for the library.

“The prices had escalated 30 to 40 per cent on building materials,” said Armstrong.

Shawville and Clarendon officials scrambled to find a way to bridge the gap between budget and bid before the end of the year, or else risk losing their Resource Region grant.

Afraid that the library was in jeopardy, more than 30 library supporters packed the Sept. 23 meetings of both Shawville and Clarendon councils to press them to find a solution. Since then, the work has been focused on getting more funds.

Armstrong and Lang credit L’Écuyer — “without her it wouldn’t be realized,” said Armstrong — the CLD, the Pontiac MRC and the Ministry of Regional Economic Development for putting together the new budget and helping make the new funds possible.

Word that the library had been given the go-ahead spread quickly through the community and became the town’s worst-kept secret.

“I am so delighted,” said Joan Conrod on Saturday. She had been telephoned Thursday evening with the news.

“I’m extremely grateful for the work of Albert Armstrong, Jack Lang and Sandra Murray, who refused to accept defeat and fought for it,” she said.

Janet McCord agreed.

“I’m thrilled,” she said. “We need it desperately.

“Some people will say it’s just a bunch of books, but I want to look beyond that.

“It’s a public building. It’s not just a library.”

An official sod-turning ceremony has been scheduled for next Monday morning.

Note: This article has not been updated since its first publication. As a result, some of the facts referred to in the text may now be out of date.