New library pushed back three years

County says design work may continue

Friday, Dec. 25, 2009

The St. Mary's County commissioners decided Tuesday to allow the design of a new Leonardtown library to proceed in fiscal 2011, but in a split decision pushed back its construction until fiscal 2015.

Construction on the new library was originally planned to start in fiscal 2012, until the Southern Maryland legislators made it known they would not support giving the commissioners authority to borrow $25 million from the bond market for construction projects.

Commissioner Thomas A. Mattingly Sr. (D) made an impassioned plea at Tuesday's budget work session to keep the library project moving, with Commissioner Kenny Dement's support, but the county government likely doesn't have enough funds to build it without the bond sale.

Mattingly suggested the budget work session was in reaction to the Southern Maryland legislators. "They've made the decision already" about stopping the library, he said. Without seeing county government's building plans, "they've made an uninformed decision already."

The design of the library will continue in fiscal 2011 because state dollars earlier appropriated are involved and 29 architects are being considered. Elaine Kramer, chief financial officer for county government, indicated that design process could not be pushed back, despite Commissioner Larry Jarboe's (R) suggestion to do so.

Critics have said moving the Leonardtown library across Hollywood Road to a new location the county bought earlier this year would discourage pedestrians. Some have also called for the library to be built in the town limits, rather than on the Hayden farm, which is also intended to host two new schools in the future.

Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D) referred to the library as "the central county library."

"I've always called it the Leonardtown library," Jarboe said.

Mattingly said, "You can call it what you want, the bulk of the people who come to the library, two-thirds come from outside the Leonardtown ZIP code."

The St. Mary's County Memorial Library has three branches.

The Lexington Park branch has a "state-of-the-art library," Mattingly said. At Charlotte Hall there is a "more than adequate facility," he said. In Leonardtown, there is an "inadequate public library."

Some, including Jarboe, said library features can be accessed at home by computer. "To suggest that people aren't going to continue to use the library is just mind boggling," Mattingly said. "I don't understand why there's a feeling out there that [people who live in the Leonardtown area] don't have the same needs. It's not a luxury; it's a need.

"It disappoints me our delegation and our senator have targeted this project for whatever reason, but it's a disservice," he said.

"And nobody in Leonardtown walks to that library. They get in their cars and drive to the library just like they do in Lexington Park," he said.

All of the commissioners agreed to leave the design funding in fiscal 2011, but three of them — Jarboe, Raley and Commission President Francis Jack Russell (D) — agreed to push the project out to fiscal 2015.

"How can we move the construction [of the library] up if we don't have the bond authority?" Raley said.

Dement said, "They might issue bonds next year. This is a political move on some people's part. I don't like that." Thumping the table for emphasis, he said, "The citizens deserve a library in the central part of the county. I don't care what you call it."

"The reason I'm pushing this so hard — now is the time to be building projects," Mattingly said. "For two reasons: Prices are going to be good and it keeps local fellows in the construction industry working," he said.

The library project is budgeted at $15.9 million, with $13 million of that for construction.

As the Maryland General Assembly works through the state budget, "we could be sitting here in May and there's no state funding" for the library design, Kramer said.

"Many things change between now and May," Raley said.

The commissioners finalize their budget in May.

jbabcock@somdnews.com