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October 29, 2008
Wait continues for Washington Twp. library programs
By GEORGE MAST • Courier-Post Staff • October 29, 2008
Courier-Post Online
WASHINGTON TWP. — John Jardel supported his 18-month-old daughter, Morgan, with one arm while holding up an umbrella to ward off the rain with the other. He stood in line Tuesday morning with about 30 other parents outside the Margaret E. Heggan Free Public Library.
The line of parents and their children waiting outside for the library to open at 10 a.m. wove from the locked front doors around the side of the building.
The long line is a monthly ritual for some of the parents. They show up early the last Tuesday of each month to sign up their children for the following month's children's programs at the library.
"My son loves these programs so he would be upset if he couldn't get in," Jardel said about his 3-year-old, Jacob.
Jennifer Seligsohn held down her spot at the front of the line for more than 20 minutes to ensure her two youngsters would be able to go to some of the November children's programs.
Seligsohn said the key is to show up early on sign-up days.
"They are great programs but the space is limited," she said.
The township's undersized library is well known to municipal officials and talk of purchasing a larger facility has been circulating for years.
The effort seemed to finalize late this summer when the township's library board reached a purchase agreement with the owners of the 20,000-square-foot Educational Information & Resource Center building on Delsea Drive.
However, the township council has not yet approved the purchase or authorized the nearly $3 million in bonds to cover the expected cost of the facility.
Council initially put the decision off until after the prolonged effort to approve the 2008 budget was wrapped up in late September. A resolution authorizing the purchase was left off of council's agenda Thursday.
Council president Michelle Martin explained Tuesday, that some council members are reluctant to buy the EIRC building before having a buyer for the existing library building.
"There is no one here that is not in favor of doing this," she said at the council meeting on Thursday. "I just think we need to be responsible and be able to get some money for the building before we move forward."
Martin said she had been under the impression that the Washington Township School Board wanted to buy the library on East Holly Avenue but found out early last week they couldn't afford it. In addition, she said it was discovered that a resolution approved in May authorizing the township to pursue selling the facility had yielded very little action.
On Thursday, a similar resolution was approved, authorizing the township to pursue sale of the building with an auction company.
While some have said there are plenty of municipal purposes for the current library building, Martin said on Tuesday with the budget crunch and expected tax rate increase next year the municipality needs to either sell or lease the building.
Councilman Robert Timmons, who serves as a liaison to the library board, doesn't think the purchase of the EIRC building should be contingent on the sale of the current library.
"I see people disappointed because they can't get into the programs and I think that's what we should be about -- servicing the needs of the community and not worrying about filling an empty building," he said.
A meeting with two township council members, representatives from the library board and EIRC to continue the discussion is planned for Friday. Representatives from EIRC did not return a call for comment on Tuesday.
Timmons has proposed using the library for the high school's wrestling team.
He has also said the new facility would not cost taxpayers any additional money as the library has built up a surplus of around $1.2 million over the years. Last year the library received about $1.7 million in funding.
The surplus would be used as seed money for the bond and the remainder would be paid off through the library's annual municipal allotment.
A larger facility with more programming space was a welcome thought for Seligsohn.
"I am definitely looking forward to that," she said.
Reach George Mast at (856) 251-3345 or gmast@camden.gannett.com.
Posted by tumulty at October 29, 2008 10:57 AM
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