{"id":6785,"date":"2024-02-26T20:01:11","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T00:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6785"},"modified":"2024-02-26T20:16:07","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T00:16:07","slug":"put-liverpool-library-in-call-centre-building-for-now-queens-cao-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/02\/26\/put-liverpool-library-in-call-centre-building-for-now-queens-cao-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Put Liverpool library in call centre building for now, Queens CAO says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Queens regional councillors will vote Tuesday on whether the Liverpool library will move to the Liverpool Business Development Centre until a new one can be built. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

The library in Liverpool may be moving temporarily to the Liverpool Business Development Centre on White Point Road.<\/span><\/p>\n

Region of Queens councillors are set to vote on a recommendation Tuesday from CAO Cody Joudry to move the library to the same building that houses the Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte accountants. It would be there until a new site can be chosen, designed, financed and built.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The council meeting is set for 6 p.m. in council chambers on White Point Road.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Thomas H. Raddall Library is currently in the Rossignol Centre on Old Bridge Street close to downtown Liverpool. The lease expires this December. Last year, the region spent $51,680 on rent.<\/span><\/p>\n

The building owner Sherman Hines has been trying to sell it since at least November 2022. Joudry claims in his staff report that \u201cstaff are of the opinion the property is likely to be sold before the lease expires\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joudry is recommending that staff immediately begin renovations of the vacant space at the call centre building so that the library can move in by December. He estimates the renovations would cost from $1.05 to $1.26 million.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He is also suggesting that staff work with the library board to create a public consultation plan on a new library.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors decided at a December meeting not to move the library to the call centre building permanently. Residents flooded them with emails and public comments about that plan. Most were against it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding a new home for the library has been fraught with delays and controversy since the spring of 2022, when the region allocated $3 million from an unexpected budget surplus to its construction. Joudry says a new library would likely cost much more than that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cConsulting the public about (the) library matter, selecting a site (and acquiring land if <\/span>needed), creating design options, costing the project out, acquiring funding, tendering then constructing and moving the library will, realistically, take several years,\u201d he says in his report.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf council takes the recommendation to move the library as recommended, <\/span>input and feedback would be beneficial to inform decisions on designs, <\/span>renovations, and furnishing of the new space. As such the CAO and library CEO would work collaboratively to ensure the community and users are consulted on <\/span>these matters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The library steering committee twice recommended an area by Queens Place Emera Centre for the relocation. Council declined the first time but decided to accept the committee\u2019s recommendation a second time.<\/span><\/p>\n

But council scuttled the plan once more when it learned that connecting the site to existing road and infrastructure would cost close to a million dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the December council meeting, many residents spoke against the plan to move the library to White Point Road permanently. Some also were worried that if the library moved there temporarily, council would stop looking for a new location.<\/span><\/p>\n

Susan DeChamp was one of three community members appointed to the region’s library steering committee in April 2022. She spoke at the council meeting in December when staff were recommending the call centre building as the permanent site for the library.<\/p>\n

“The main issue everyone had was the location itself,” she told councillors. “The first time we recommended the sledding hill location (near Queens Place), we had councillors object that you can’t move it that far from where it currently is and it would be unreasonable to expect library users to \u00a0walk across the bridge. Now you’re asking library users to walk to the fringes of town where the street lamps are fairly far apart, it’s not brightly lit and there are no sidewalks.”<\/p>\n

Jessica Joudrey and Tom Raddall resigned before the December meeting. Raddall told councillors that they were “frustrated and disillusioned”.<\/p>\n

In response to public comments at the December meeting, District 6 Coun. David Brown summed up the general mood on council when he said that using the call centre only as a temporary space would give the region time to do more thorough public consultation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think we have to do a better job of getting more engagement from the public so that we can build what the public wants and needs,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can make this a temporary, it gives us a chance to take a deep breath, look at it, analyze it and do that job right in the long run. And I think the public will be much better served if we get it done right rather than if we get it done quick.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Joudry\u2019s other recommendations include: a high-level public engagement process begin on what people want from a new library and a new advisory committee be formed with clear direction and support from council.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to Monday’s news update below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/newsupdatefeb2624.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The library in Liverpool may be moving temporarily to the Liverpool Business Development Centre on White Point Road. Region of Queens councillors are set to vote on a recommendation Tuesday from CAO Cody Joudry to move the library to the same building that houses the Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte accountants. It would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[670,1427,793,1790,792,1792,39,760,351,24,1100,1791,1788,795,1789],"class_list":["post-6785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-call-centre","tag-cody-joudry","tag-david-brown","tag-jessica-joudrey","tag-library","tag-library-location","tag-liverpool","tag-liverpool-business-development-centre","tag-queens-place-emera-centre","tag-region-of-queens","tag-rossignol-centre","tag-sherman-hines","tag-susan-dechamp","tag-thomas-h-raddall-library","tag-tom-raddall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6785"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6789,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6785\/revisions\/6789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}