As part of their presentation to St. Albert city council, the public library board promised that they would raise $500,000 to pay for furniture and equipment for the new branch library. When I inquired of Councillor Tim Osborne as to how much of this $500,000 the Library Board has actually raised, I received a very interesting response. Osborne said “… I would suggest that until the detailed design and construction of the library are approved, it would not be acting in good faith to collect money for a project that may or may not move forward.”
O.K. I can understand Councillor Osborne saying it would not be acting in good faith to collect money from the general public before the branch library project was approved. My question is this: why would it also be “not acting in good faith” to ask Council to pass a borrowing bylaw for $21.9 million dollars before they have a detailed design and the construction costs nailed down with a high degree of certainty? But that is exactly what they tried to do before it all came to an abrupt halt caused by the citizens’ petition.
This whole situation raises a series of questions. Why was the original budget figure for the branch library increased from $17 million to $17.4 million? Was this increased by $400,000 to cover the cost of furniture and equipment? Was this increased by $400,000 because the library board actually had no plans to raise the $500,000 in the first place?
One thing is clear. To date the best information is that the library board has not raised a single penny of the $500,000 that they promised to raise. Given the size of the task before them, it is actually astounding they have made no moves to fulfill their commitment if that was their original intention.
Mark Cassidy, St. Albert
