Region of Queens CAO Cody Joudry and Mayor Darlene Norman before Tuesday’s council meeting. (Rick Conrad photo)

Library users in Liverpool will be checking out books in a new location by the end of the year.

Region of Queens councillors voted Tuesday night to move the Thomas H. Raddall library to the Liverpool Business Development Centre until a permanent site can be found and built.

The Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte accountants are the current tenants at the building, just off the White Point Road. The municipality owns the building.

The call centre currently uses about 18,000 square feet of the space, while Belliveau Veinotte leases 4,800. That leaves about 9,200 square feet for the library’s temporary location.

First, though, regional staff have to renovate to add washrooms and program rooms and to accommodate the library’s collection. The plan is to move the library there before the end of the current lease in December. It’s currently in the Rossignol Centre in downtown Liverpool, which is for sale.

Susan DeChamp, who was one of three members of the region’s library steering committee, was at the council meeting Tuesday evening. She said it’s probably the best option for now. 

“So for what we have to work with, it’s not a bad blank slate,” she said in an interview after the meeting. “There is still the issue of some of our walking people getting to it. … There is some concern that library usage could suffer a bit for that. We need a library and this is our best option at this point.”

Finding a new home for the library has been fraught with delays and controversy since 2022, when the region allocated $3 million from an unexpected budget surplus to its construction. CAO Cody Joudry says a new library would likely cost much more than that.

The library steering committee twice recommended a site near Queens Place Emera Centre. Council rejected it the first time but decided to accept the recommendation a second time.

But councillors nixed that plan once more when they learned that connecting the site to existing road and infrastructure would cost close to a million dollars.

And then at a December meeting, after hearing from residents, councillors rejected a staff recommendation to move the library to the call centre building permanently. 

District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault, who chaired the library committee but voted against its recommendations, said Tuesday it’s a good solution to ensure library services continue. 

“This has been a long process to say the least,” Amirault said. “It’s been quite a process but I just think we need to overhaul a little bit and move on.”

The vote on the temporary location was not unanimous. Mayor Darlene Norman voted against it. She said the region could have bought the building where the library is now, and keep it there until a developer could be found to put housing in that location.

“However, it was not a wish of council to do that,” she said. 

“One would hope that during that refit that the CEO of the library and the library staff are consulted very closely and that we’re simply not creating office space, because it’s my feeling that once the library is there, the library will stay there. It would be very difficult for a future council to justify a million plus on renovation and then flip around to build a new library.”

CAO Cody Joudry estimates the work on the call centre will cost from $1.05 to $1.26 million. He says that he’ll work with the library’s CEO to ensure users and the rest of the community are consulted on the design and renovation of the space. 

He said that with this council’s term ending in October, it would be difficult to complete consultation, site selection, design and tendering before then. Joudry suggests letting a newly elected council develop a long-term plan for the library.

But some councillors want the process to begin before a new council is elected in October. 

District 6 Coun. David Brown said he wants public consultation to “start sooner rather than later” so that the incoming council will have something to work with.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Thomas H Raddall Library. Photo Ed Halverson

A new library could come in at a third the cost of previous designs if Region of Queens Council decides to build it in the Liverpool Business Development Centre.

Projections from staff indicate refurbishing the building to accommodate relocation of the Thomas H Raddall library would cost in the neighbourhood of $1.15 million.

Home to Belliveau Veinotte accounting and Global Empire Call Centre, the building is commonly known as the call centre.

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman says the municipality is under pressure to find a new home for the regional library as the lease at its current location in the Rossignol Centre is up at the end of 2024.

“Library users will recognize the fact that our present library location is on really weak legs,” said Norman. “There are difficulties with the building sometimes with power and heat. The building’s been for sale now for, I would say a year. The price has been reduced and Council is getting very nervous that unexpectedly, we may be without a library site.”

The Region of Queens has wrestled with where to build a new library since it decided to allocate approximately $3 million from an unexpected budget surplus to its construction in spring of 2022.

The library site selection committee twice recommended an area by the sledding hill at Queens Place for the relocation. Council declined the first time but decided to accept the committee’s recommendation when it came around a second time.

But council scuttled the plan once more when it came to light that close to a million dollars was needed to connect the sledding hill library site to the existing road and infrastructure.

The proposed site at the Liverpool Business Development Centre meets most of the criteria established by the library site selection committee.

It has 6,000 square feet of available space, parking for 24 vehicles, outdoor lighting, outdoor space for programming, isn’t in a known flood zone and is already owned by the municipality.

However, the nearest sidewalk is 350 metres away and the site is currently not accessible by public transit, although the staff report mentions Queens County Transit could potentially extend service to the location.

Norman says the Centre has a lot of positives to offer but people may struggle to get to the site. She is concerned if the library is not centrally located, the Region could be creating a problem that will hound residents for years to come.

“We need to realize that if we spend a million, or a million and a half, or a million and three quarters, or whatever it takes, there’s no such thing as renovating, spending that much money and just making a temporary library,” said Norman.

“It will have program rooms, it will have its own washrooms, it will have [a] staff room, it will have its own entrance. When all of those things are put in there, I would say that is where the library is going to stay for decades.”

Council heard the presentation from staff and will decide at a future meeting whether they will go forward with the Call Centre location for the new library.

To hear the broadcast version of this story click play below.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Thomas H. Raddall Library. Photo credit Ed Halverson

Municipal staff have suggested building the new library close to the Region of Queens administrative office.

In a release issued, Thursday Nov 16, staff say the Liverpool Business Development Center, on Harley Umphrey Drive, “offers an ideal space, including ample parking, access to green spaces, and more room for programming.”

Another benefit of the proposed relocation is that the Liverpool Business Development Center is owned by the Region of Queens.

The library’s lease in their current location at the Rossignol Centre in Liverpool is set to expire at the end of 2024.

Municipalities are responsible for providing space to locate regional libraries in Nova Scotia. Finding a new site to relocate the library has proved contentious for Region of Queens Council.

In the 2022/23 budget, Council voted to use part of a $3 million surplus from the federal and provincial governments to build a new library. A committee was struck shortly after to recommend a site. Their unanimous choice was that it should be located at Queens Place.

Council initially rejected that option in June of 2022 and asked the committee to come back with another recommendation.  Councillors raised concerns at the time that the location would be too remote for people coming from the Liverpool area.

In January 2023, the committee again determined the Queens Place site was best and this time Council approved their recommendation and agreed to build the new library on the Queens Place location.

However, in March, Council rescinded that approval in a recorded 5-3 vote after learning the estimated cost of extending the driveway to the proposed site would be $950,000.

If Council agrees to move the library to the Liverpool Business Development Center, it will join existing tenants Belliveau Veinotte Accountants and Global Empire Call Centre.

In July of this year, Council awarded a $2,031,273 tender to Sea Coast HVAC for the installation of a new HVAC system at the Liverpool Business Development Center.

A draft design concept for the new library will be presented to Council for its consideration. If they agree to move the library to the Liverpool Business Development Center more design work will be required before renovations begin.

To hear the broadcast version of this story click play below.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Global Empire call centre cubicles. Photo Ed Halverson

Region of Queens will spend $1.9 million to fix the ailing cooling system at the Liverpool Business Development Centre.

Better known locally as the call centre building, the municipally owned property on Harley Umphrey Drive is home to Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte Inc accountants.

Mayor Darlene Norman says as the landlord, the Region needs to provide a safe environment for the 100 plus people who go to work in the building every day.

“It’s a lot of money. It’s what happens when you’re a landlord. You know, what’s our other choice? Shut the building down, break our leases, hold our breath and hope that the thing doesn’t break again and then when it breaks again and then when it does, we have no solution for air conditioning?” said Norman. “It’s a lot of money to spend on a building. The building is not even worth that much money. However, it’s a business, it’s a building, it’s employing people, they’re good people in there working.”

A staff report indicates in its 20-year lifespan the HVAC unit has required numerous repairs, over and above what is considered normal maintenance.

The unit is approaching the end of its serviceable life and parts are becoming almost impossible to find.

DUMAC Energy Limited was hired in February to conduct a study of the Centre’s HVAC system which produced two recommendations: install a new single facility system estimated at $1.2 million or a four-quadrant system estimated at $1.5 million before structural upgrades and design work is considered.

Half the cost will come from a special operating reserve while the Region will need to borrow money to cover the other half.

Norman says that borrowing could mean a small increase to resident’s property tax bill in the coming years.

“I believe it could roughly be two to three cents, which is what we dropped the rate down by this year. But, interest rates, who knows what they’ll be at the point in time.”

Norman says staff will begin working to resolve the HVAC issues right away but because of worldwide supply-chain issues she doesn’t expect the new equipment will be in place this summer.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.

Inside Global Empire Call Centre. Photo Ed Halverson

An aging heating and ventilation system has the Region of Queens looking at selling the Liverpool Development Business Centre.

The centre is home to chartered accountants Belliveau Veinotte Inc. and Global Empire Call Centre.

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman says the HVAC system was installed as part of the original 2003 construction and has reached the end of its usefulness.

“It serves the entire building. It’s been band-aided, it’s been fixed. What on Earth are we going to do with it?” asked Norman.

HVAC technicians have examined the building and presented council with two options: replace the existing unit with one large unit to again service the entire building or split the building into zones and install four units.

Norman says both options are pricy.

Installation and renovation costs are projected to range between a million and two million dollars.

Council discussed how long it will take to pay that off based on the rental guarantees in place with the existing tenants.

Norman says before deciding on which way to go council have asked staff to bring back other options.

“Rather than make a decision, staff have been asked to approach one of the tenants who has expressed public interest in purchasing that building.”

Norman says staff will report back at the next council meeting whether the building should be put up for sale.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.