Library to hold meetings on expansion plans
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April 11, 2014 |
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Bonners Ferry artist and designer Robert
Bissett's rendition of the possible
future of the Boundary County Library if
voters approve "the People's University"
in May. |
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A series of weekly public informational meetings
will kick off next week to explain two measures
that will go before Boundary County voters May
20 that would, if approved, bring a world-class
library housing much more to Bonners Ferry.
It's an ambitious proposal carrying an
$8-million price tag, but "The People's
University," as library director Sandy Ashworth
calls it, would pull together a plethora of
services and educational resources under one
three-story roof.
It would
provide new space for the U of I Boundary County
Extension Office, expand educational
opportunities by housing the North Idaho College
Bonners Ferry campus, offering professional and
technical education, research and development,
business support services and more. A Business
Development Center and the Boundary Economic
Development Council Office, offering
entrepreneurial assistance, would form a bridge
between education and the local workplace.
What's even more exciting is the inclusion of
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for
Bits and Atoms Fab(rication) Lab.
CBA was launched by a National Science
Foundation award in 2001 to create a unique
digital fabrication facility that gathers tools
across disciplines and length scales for making
and measuring things. These include electron
microscopes and focused ion beam probes for
nanostructures, laser micromachining and X-ray
microtomography for microstructures, and
multi-axis machining and 3D printing for
macrostructures. These are supported by
instrumentation for processing and
characterizing materials and devices. CBA's
tools are available around the clock for its
users working on projects that integrate these
capabilities.
According to Ashworth, MIT has extended the
Boundary County Library an invitation to
establish a FAB Lab right here in Bonners Ferry,
bringing cutting edge technology and innovation
that can be used for local applications.
Far from being a simple library, approval of a
levy override allowing an increase in tax
funding of $100,000 per year, and a general
obligation bond of up to $8-million over 30
years to fund the project.
If approved the USDA will fund the project with
a 30-year Rural Development loan at 4.374
percent interest.
While it sounds like pie-in-the-sky to many,
county taxpayers would not be paying that full
amount, as much of the cost would be funded by
grants the library board has obtained or will
apply for.
"These ideas pull together a lot of things the
county needs in one place," Ashworth said. "By
making this more than a library, we can go after
additional funding; block grants and economic
development grants, to save taxpayer dollars."
By guaranteeing, with the bond, that the
facility can be finished once it's started, the
door opens for a wide array of outside funding
sources that will make a world-class facility
possible on a budget the community can afford.
The Boundary County Library Board will host an
intense series of weekly public meetings
beginning Monday, April 14, and continuing
through Monday, May 19, to provide county
residents ample opportunity to learn all the
details of the proposed expansion project and
answer the myriad questions taxpayers have.
Each meeting will cover the history and
rationale of the project, the details of the
estimated project budget, a review of the costs
to local taxpayers and the strategic plan for
securing other funding to offset construction
costs and reduce local property tax levies.
Meetings will be held at 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 6
p.m. April 14, 21, 25 and 28 and May 2, 5, 9,
12, 16 and 19. Saturday meetings will be held at
10 a.m. and 2 p.m. May 2, 10 and 17.
Each meeting will be held at the library in the
downstairs meeting room.
To find out more about the project or the
meetings, call the library at (208) 267-3750. |
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