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At last Thursday’s Buena Vista City Council meeting, a couple of citizens raised concerns about the Buena Vista Library moving back into its headquarters in the old courthouse before all maintenance issues in the 1890s-era structure have been addressed.
Jim Hudson asked that the continued from page 1 city “take time to make sure you do it right,” referring to maintenance work being done to the building while the library has been temporarily relocated to St. John’s United Methodist Church.
The library, Hudson said, “is a very important part of our community. They do a wonderful job.” He referred to it as a “cornerstone of learning.” The church, of which he is a member, “is very glad to help out” by providing space for the library on a temporary basis, he said. He urged the city to “design a library” that will fulfill the city’s needs and to seek out funding from “unique” sources to pay for the work.
Alluding to an issue that has been raised – a lack of communication between library and city officials – Hudson advised representatives of both entities to “take the time to talk to each other.”
Both city and library officials have acknowledged that they have fallen short in keeping lines of communication open but have vowed to do better in the future. In fact, they plan to start meeting on a monthly basis.
Also addressing Council last week during the citizens’ comments portion of the meeting was Stephen Talley. Like Hudson, he too expressed concern that the city was pressuring the library to too quickly move back into the old courthouse.
“What is the motivation to move back into that building?” he asked. He said he’d looked at the city’s contract with the library and couldn’t find anything that indicated the library had to be in a specific building. Issues related to the library, he added, need to be more “clearly communicated to the citizens.”
“Hopefully, communication won’t be an issue in the future,” said City Attorney Brian Kearney.
Kearney said Friday it was his understanding that the library’s move back into the old courthouse is already underway. The issue of determining the structural integrity of the building has been resolved, he pointed out, and any remaining maintenance issues can be addressed safely while the building is occupied.
Following discussion in executive session at its meeting on Feb. 23, the Rockbridge Regional Library Board voted to begin planning to move back into the building on Magnolia Avenue on March 6, pending the recovery of branch manager Elaina Skovira from a scheduled surgery. Rockbridge Regional Library Director Julie Goyette told The News-Gazette on Tuesday that she was in communication with City Manager Jason Tyree, but that a timeline for when the move would occur had not been settled.
