A new library, originally projected to cost $3.2 million, but now estimated to be about $3.8 million, is causing trustees in Great Barrington, a historically and culturally rich area in southwestern MA, to scramble for the last bit of funding. Criticized for failing to consider the cost of inflation in the original calculations, trustees told unhappy Finance Committee member Karen W. Smith that the State of Massachusetts will only fund projects based on construction estimates at the time of the grant application.
There is also talk of general unhappiness in the community about the library and it’s plans…Karen Smith and others accuse the library of not being user-friendly and accommodating. One resident said efforts to borrow children’s books on a regular basis for a local children’s program became so complicated that the program eventually went to an out-of-town library. Here’s the story from the Berkshire Eagle.
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