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Um, kind of um, illustrating kind of where we've been so far since 2001 um, and maybe where that's heading. Um, so tonight we want to present some of the options that we have available. Um, so really the spirit of what we're trying to continue tonight is to provide as much information so that the town board and the town can make the best possible decision for this community. So what you'll see right now is um some statistics. I just wanted to share some some of our KPIs if you're business-minded or um these are the statistics that we report to New York State. So, one of the key things that I noticed is that in 2021, we had about 20% 27% of the population of Webster had active library cards.

That means people who have used their library cards in the past 12 months. This is what happened to last year. Our active borrowers went from 12,000 to almost 16,000. That went from 27% of the population to 35% of the population. That's a significant increase. Um, and so this is kind of one of those metrics that we use to determine how much demand is on the library, whether we're talking collections or spaces, that kind of thing. But this proportion going up shows that Webster residents proportionally are demanding more library services. Similarly, we have our door count. So, this is our door count since 2020.

Um, right now, uh, what you'll see here is the actual count and then what we've got so far in 2026. The orange bar, uh, the orange hashed bar that you see there is what we'd expect based on our current rate of breaking about 200,000 visits this year. Um, as you can see, we've been flirting with that number for a couple of years now, and so we're hoping to cross that line this year. Similarly, program attendance is up significantly. Um, programs are one of the things that Webster Public Library is known most for. Um and here what you can see is a dramatic increase in our program attendance. This is also um eclipsing precoid numbers as well.

So when you see us over that 45,000 mark in 2019 we were at about 30,000 program attendance. That was one of our highest years on record and what we can see here is 2024 and 2025 surpassing that figure. So even prior co to co we are surpassing those numbers. the demand on the library continues to increase faster than the population growth. Here's our study room usage. So, what you'll see here is one of our these are uh representing three of our small our study rooms at the back of the library. Um what you can see in the orange is how many hours were booked. So, in 2025, those study rooms were booked for 4,500 hours.

Um and that accounts for just under 3,000 bookings. Um, that's out of I I think that ends up being about 60% of how many hours are available of those room bookings throughout the day. So, here's our current reality, and I presented this in April, so I'll apologize for those of you who have seen this. Um, since 2001, the Webster Public Library has leased Next Door. Um, used prior to that, it was in this building. Um since then, um the going forward to the end of the lease, which is March of 2032, um we will have spent as a community a little over $13 million on that building for just rental, CAM, and taxes.

Um and the reason I bring that up is because it is an investment and it is a rental. That rental will continue. Um, so when we look at these figures, one of the things that I am hoping to drive home is the analogy of what happens when you make the decision to rent or buy a home. Um, so kind of keep that in the back of your mind because that 30-year time span is about the same as an average mortgage. [snorts] So here's kind of some of the timeline that got us here. In 2001, the original lease was signed. Uh, we had the first renewal signed four years later. Um there was the great recession in 2007 2015 2016 that lease was renewed and the library was renovated um mostly by the cost uh borne primarily by the landlord.

Um and that's also when the library switched entrances. So if that kind of gives you a framing of when that happened 2020 obviously we had co uh my predecessor and friend Terry Bennett retired in 2021. um in 2029, looking forward to the end of a lease, is WPL's 100th birthday. And then the end of our current lease, which is the end of March 2032. So why now? So in back in April, Keith and I presented both the kind of problem statement as well as what it takes to plan a project like this. So what you see here is a Gant chart. Um and Keith, please feel free to hop in if I go wrong here. Um but uh this mirrors a lot of the timeline that the library for board had put forth in their uh long range plan approved two years ago which targets the end of next year by having a location identified so that design and consultant selection can happen.

Design work can occur. We can go out for bid. Any land preparation can be done. Um, so this is a, you know, five and a half year outlook that we're trying to plan for. [clears throat] So, um, this is a rent projection of what we might expect over the next 30 years. What you see on the blue line is if our current terms, our current rental terms were renewed as is, what it accounts for is a 5% increase every 5 years and assumes a 2% increase on taxes in CAM every year, which is a very conservative estimate. Um, that means by the end of 2062, we'll have spent about 17.5 million more on that rental.

>> [snorts] >> What you see on the orange line is the average off commercial rate. So if we were to be offered the average terms in today's dollars, that would look that would be about $23 a square foot, whereas the library is paying currently about 11. Um that $23 translates to almost $25.5 million spent on a building that this town does not own. Yeah. Okay. [clears throat] >> And uh good evening. So for those that don't know me in the audience, um I'm the town engineer, Keith Mortimer for the town of Boer. And I'm, you know, on this side of the equation, I help develop a lot of our current projections on our renovation costs.

So we're going to assume um that we would be renovating this space. If we were to re renew the lease, we'd go through a renovation of that space um of about 45,000 square ft. Um renovation costs um range anywhere between $250 and $400 or $450 a square foot. And a lot of the and the range is so wide because there are a lot of key drivers that go into this. Um and you know you know you see them there with the the complexity of the structures, the mechanical electrical systems um bringing up the the facility to ADA um standards or compliance updates, any kind of technology um replacement or updates we want to do.

And then at the bottom there's what they call soft costs. And we've rolled up a lot of things into soft cost just because of where we're at in the stage of this um analysis. And those are design fees, contingencies, construction management, um, and some of those types of of items that you might see as part of services that go in to help us to, uh, to renovate this space. And that's about 20 to 30%. So all in, if we were to look at the high and the low, um, we'd be looking at a total renovation budget of between 11.3 and 20.3 million. Now this excludes um any inflation. So this is today's dollars.

Um you know inflation has been for construction has been very uh well it's been unpredictable at many times as [clears throat] low as 2% and as high as as 30% just depending on the circumstances. Um but right now inflation is is averaging on construction of about 5%. of this number is just in today's dollars of 113 to 20.3. So yeah, so um so what you can see here is what we would have cumulatively spent if we renew a lease for 30 years. Um the reason we'd look to a 30-year lease is uh generally um if you're talking to somebody who owns the longer lease you can commit to the better terms you can receive.

So assuming that we get our current uh rate extended for 30 years, there's that 17.5 million. And then that orange chunk up top, that 113 is the low end of that renovation costs. Um and so if you're also thinking, what about an existing structure, which would be a great question, um that 113 would also translate to any existing building if we were to utilize an existing building somewhere in town. So keep that in mind a as the as we talk about renovation. It accounts for both. So total we're looking at about $28.8 million over the next 30 years to stay put and update the space um to better serve our community.

>> Bill. All right. So [clears throat] this is a a some information regarding a new build. So at this point we're going to talk about all the numbers you see are exclusion of purchasing of of any land. This is just to build a new building. So standard construction um for for a library um is somewhere between 320 and 580 um dollars a square foot. And again this is um for a fairly moderate building. Um it is not uh I would say um super complex. It's a very rectangular building. Probably some standard finishes. The slight work we call flat site work. Um minimal um grading, minimal issues with the site to to make the project work.

at the high end. Um, if we're going to go for a more complex um, uh, building that includes um, some interesting features um, custom interiors architecturally, we want to, you know, make it more of a statement building or we actually want to bring in other types of components such as various technology um, that may exist. You know, our costs start to go up from there to from between 600 and a,000 square feet. Um so again I would say con construction only cost building only cost range let's just put in our heads it's about 320 to a th000 square ft again a big big range um and we'll certainly talk about how we get that paired down but what goes into these costs and this [clears throat] is you know that's construction that I just talked about then on top of it you're going to have um all the things that go into the library, all the the the shelving, um the technology, um there are also soft costs and professional fees.

Again, those are the design fees. Um and then there is also the um we put a contingency on top of all of that just to account for the whatifs. And then on top of that, I've talked about inflation is is pretty volatile um when it comes to construction, but within one to two years of of bidding right now in this current environment, we're looking at about 5% 5% inflation cost. So, these these these additional costs, $50 per square foot for fixtures, um, furniture and equipment, the $15 square foot for technology, um, and then the additional fees that go into this at professional fees contingency, um, all will make up what you'll see as our what we're projecting to be our square foot costs.

Again, before I get to that point, just another point of information. This is very recent um as of 2026. And you'll see here some references there. I mean, as as early as as for as late as September of this year, um as well as May 2026. These are just some projections of what some types of libraries have cost. So, small mid urban library, [clears throat] they're looking at around $460 a square foot. for a midsize library. Um maybe something like what we're planning on on doing. Um those costs can range up to a thousand square foot and then they get into the landmark urban libraries and those are probably more of a a specialized downtown city of Rochester type of space can be 40 million more.

They don't even give you a per square foot cost. So here's kind of for us. So if we take into account a a highle um educated guess on construction cost per square foot based on the type of library that we think we would build which is a midsize library for the town of Webster of 40,000 square ft. Just baseline construction we're going to use $500 a square foot. Furniture and equipment u furniture fixtures and equipment would be 50 technology 15. Um the soft cost which is 15% of just the construction would be 75 and the budget contingency again just of construction would be $75. All total that would be we're looking at roughly $715 per square foot if we're doing some highle budgeting.

that, if you recall, sits almost right in the middle of that, you know, $460 to a,000 per square foot. And it happened to be just I will say it was either divine intervention or happen stance that that I got this number. And I didn't realize where it landed until it was all said and done. But if we're looking at a building of 45,000 square feet, um we have an estimated uh high level cost of about $32.2 million. Again, this is excluding um inflation. So this would be in somewhat today or a year from today. So what you can see here is cumulative spends from 2032 to 20 uh 2112. Um, and the reason the the forecast here is so long is because just like buying a house, there are upfront costs that make it cost more than rental.

So, I want to be very clear here. I am not saying, and I think Keith just demonstrated, that renting is more expensive than owning in the short term. It's not. Um, in fact, those red circles that you see are where in the different bonding scenarios, the rental costs become higher than the than the bonding costs or the borrowing costs. So, that's a ways out. Um, but what you can see here is at that $25 million level, which was a level that we had kind of targeted early in this project, um, that pays that starts to show value dollar for dollar over the rental in about 20 about 2065, I think it's technically 2067.

Um but again at that point rental continues to cost this organ or to continue to cost this community and organization whereas purchasing we're just going to be doing maintenance. Now one thing you should remember um in a rental in most cases that we're used to in kind of the um uh home environment we just pay the rent and the landlord takes care of the rental. In commercial spaces um it's what's called a triple net lease. So, what that means is that the town and the library are responsible for all the fixes inside the four walls and under the roof. So, we're not responsible for the roof, but back in 2019, um, we went for a state aid grant and spent some money to replace the HVAC.

Um, any of that kind of investment that's happened over the past 30 years will most likely stay with the building. We'll salvage as much as we can. Um, but I also want to point out buying a building requires maintenance, too. Um, but by owning that building, Webster has control over the the maintenance, has control over those upgrades, additions, things like that. Right now, we're paying for all that and have to walk away from it at the end of the lease, whenever that happens to be. So again, what you can see here, those red targets are when the purchase becomes cheaper than rental. So again, it's not going to happen before I'm retired.

So, this is a longterm planning uh project. Um, but in the long term, Webster will have its own library as opposed to being at the wings of a rental. So, what's this going to cost? I think that's a fair question that everybody in here is probably interested in. So, um, I've run these values against a $30 million bond. I don't know that the library is going to cost that much or that little. I I really don't know. And this is kind of one of the scenarios that we're doing because we're trying to give a highle estimate of how this might impact you. So what you can see across the bottom is the market value for um homes.

So 200,000 300,000. Um Webster's currently averaging uh the sales volume is like $399,000 for a home. So that's that kind of $400,000 lane. So how much is it going to cost you all as taxpayers a month? So what you can see here, you can look for your home across the bottom or somewhere in between and get an idea of roughly where that might work and we can run these scenarios for all sorts of levels of bonding. And when the town is ready to consider a bond vote, we will have these figures more nailed down. Right now, we're just trying to take an estimate. So what you can see on the left is the monthly cost by home value.

And what you can see to the right, just to put it in scale, is what you might pay for a subscription steering service. I've got them. you've probably got them, but the library's got them, too. Um, and we've got access that you've already paid for. So, keep that in mind when you're trying to go look for that next movie. You've already paid for that movie on the shelf in the library before you go out and get fill in the blank streaming service. So, just remember that rental never ends. A bond or mortgage does. So, that's really the biggest difference. And this is what it would cost. And I and to be clear, this is what it would cost per month for 30 years.

I don't want to make any bones about that. This is this is what what we're looking at and what how it could affect your tax bill. So with that, we appreciate your time and attention today. We're happy to take any questions. >> Thank you. We'll go down and start with our library. >> Thank you. Um, you know, I think to start with, huge fan of the library, fully support the library, and I recognize this is a major major financial decision for the town. I mean, this is a major asset for the town that residents use. There's a huge cost. There's a lot to look into, but libraries, you know, to me are a bedrock of strong communities.

So, it's important that we take the time, energy, and effort to get this right. You know, Keith, I appreciate your help putting this together. Um, you know, this presentation got to us this afternoon. So, I've looked through it quickly. I've got some questions. I will save some of them because they're in the weeds and I don't want to bore everyone to death, but there's certain things I want to kind of clarify for the record tonight to get the ball moving. Paul, I appreciate you chiming in this afternoon and you know that you recently saw it as well. So, we've got to have some coordination from finance as well as we go through this.

Um, all right. So thinking through this to start with to level set this you know key to is this super preliminary high level detailed what level of information should the board treat this as like 100,000 foot view 10,000 foot view how much of an estimate of these numbers in here >> in my opinion if you were in space you could see it from space. Okay. I mean that that I mean I I thank you for that because I think that seems accurate. You don't have to be offensive, but like that's >> where it's that just makes it hard to like the next how much information do you need to make the right decision is kind of the next point.

Um all right. How far along are we doing in a more formal library needs assessment to understand collections, programs, space needs to find the number of how many square feet we need, what size we need, and all those pieces. >> What is it you're asking for? How far away are we to kind of figure out a future projected size past 45,000 is a broad square footage of what's current collection level look like? What's programs look like? What does residents want to see? How can we refine that 40,000 5,000 foot to get to an engineer to be like, "Hey, based on a particular plot of land, we're thinking now we're going to need 36,492 and it's going to be this look." Yeah.

Um so, um Keith's pulling up the Gant chart, but that's really a question to be answered during the design phase. So, um, you know, we were estimating based on our current reality with that 45,000 ft², but ultimately that design period that's currently on the screen, that design consultant look, so probably October or fall of next year, um, through really the end of 2029. Um, but in terms of gathering that information, um, that really should go in the RFP. So things like usage data that I been presenting tonight. Um right now we're doing an inventory of shelving to figure out how many square feet we just need for the collections.

Excuse me. So a lot of that fact gathering happens before the RFT process. We're already starting it. A lot of it we gather on an annual basis for the state already. You know there was two women that came to the last library board meeting that work for a consulting company. They also live in Webster and they volunteer to help for free and to do that exact analysis with the spreadsheet. So, I think you should reach out to them >> because they can help bring it down sooner, quicker. Um, looking at the rent projections, so we're currently playing $11 a square foot and market is $23 a square foot.

>> Yep. >> So, in that situation, then we're getting a good deal currently. >> Yeah. I mean, it's certainly under market value. Yeah, for sure. Um, I don't know if long-term that's the solution, but I'd say in our current reality, we're paying a lot less than our uh other commercial renters in the area. And that's one of those things to figure out as we look at the cost of this of balancing what it looks like and what it does. And then how far along any conversations we had with the landlord to figure out future rent, Kim charges, landlord funded improvements, etc. >> Yep. So, I've had about three discussions with him in person and a couple other phone calls.

Um, we've been he's been trying to figure out ways that um he can keep us. We were the anchor tenant when the land was purchased a couple years ago. Um, we are the largest renter right now in the plaza, which means we're also responsible for the largest percentage of CAM and taxes. Um, so far he has not uh given me a number of what he's willing to do to keep us. He's offered other material things like additional square footage, um potential for looking at other options like furnishings and things like that, but um so far no rent number has been um offered. >> When we update this model, can we quantify those and add them in here?

the extra square footage and uh anything if if it gets offered yet. Um nothing's nothing's come through in ink yet. So I don't have anything to share on that. >> But I think as we build the model out, it' be good to add we can we can model in there to the Excel file what those three will be. That way it gives us numbers. We can go high, low, and moderate. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Um in terms of renovation assumptions, so then we're thinking then we're going to completely renovate the entire library. Is that the way I'm reading this? at a level 11 to $4 million. >> I think what you're reading is what it would cost to renovate the space.

The space as it as it stands is not ideal and we've heard that from the community as well as staff. Um now we are limited because we do have a particular footprint. >> Um but uh excuse me. Um, in terms of the renovation, one of the things that we wanted to cover here today was not only the cost of renovation of the current space, but also the question that we've been exploring, which is what happens if we try to repurpose a building that's already in Webster. Um, and we did the purchase. So, we excluded the land acquisition price since that can be pretty variable. Um, I think that eventually this town would have to renovate.

Does it have to happen? >> So, is this renovation of a different building at the library then? No, no, it would be any renovation. It would be that cost. So, the library will need to get renovated if we stay eventually. >> In today's dollars, that's what it would cost. >> Now, if we renew the lease, it doesn't need to happen in 2032, but eventually it will need to be renovated. So, can we work on narrowing that down? Like with the current library, because once again, we got to consider alternatives with the current library. If we renew the lease, what would it cost to renovate it at a different level of like, hey, the low end, moderate, and high?

Can you get that more nailed down than this? >> Well, you know, Keith, what do we need? >> Well, that would certainly come down to the scope of the work, right? >> Thank you, Keith. >> What's that? >> I just said thank you. You're 100% correct. >> Yeah, it comes down to just the scope of the work, right? So, if we're renovating just the front desk area, you know, that's and and some some and bathrooms, that's one cost. But if we're actually looking to reconfigure the entire space, then essentially you're looking at a renovation of the entire space. So, it's just dependent on what that scope looks like.

>> Well, no, just one of the model in there is we consider all these at this point everything's on a table to be considered of. If we stay there and make minimum renovations, if we stay there and gut it scenarios to be modeled out. >> I I mean, you could take you could take the square footage number that I've given here and you could say, well, we're only going to renovate 20,000 square feet. Well, that would be one particular dollar value. You could look at 5,000 square feet. That's another value. >> We don't to model this. I mean, those scenarios could be infinite probably within that $45,000 spread.

So, I'm just saying we don't we wouldn't know that until we got into a detailed scope of what that renovation actually >> I think that's what we try to figure as a town of like how much information do we need to make these decisions and how can we model the simple of like a low moderate high with a little more direction. Um, all right, moving on. Don't want to take too much time. As we look at future cost of building, have we factored in long-term maintenance, capital expenditures, and all those costs as well or just the bond cost at this point? >> Well, um, I think what my comment earlier was is that those costs would be the same between the two because we're in a triple net lease.

So, that maintenance cost is going to be the same whether it's over there or whether it's somewhere else. And I think there'll be some difference between us and the whole building and even if you include the roof, I mean, I think there's going to be some quantifiable difference between those two. >> If you have a model that I could use, I would really appreciate it. >> I'd be happy to. >> Um, long-term comparison on this one right here. So, it looks like if I'm doing this right, the rent line starts higher than the bond lines all the way to the left in 2032. [clears throat] Yes. So you're are you including the $13 million in rent paid already?

>> Yes, >> in this. >> Yeah, it's a cumulative spend. >> But I would say that's a sum cost. You've already spent that in the past. And going forward as we model these scenarios, that's spent. That's kind of like the car's told, you bought the car, whatever. So $1,300 is spent spent. >> Oh, I'm sorry. That's the opposite of what you told me. So I was using what you and I talked about previously. I don't remember that. So I apologize. So when I saw it here, that was one of my first questions. Um, and then I think too there was some discussion about like if it last over 75 100 years, you know, kind of modeling some current value cost to get a sense of what that looks like.

Um, you know, there's a lot to figure out here. There's a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot to be done. And and as you look at this too, you talk about building a new library might be more expensive than renting in the short. >> In the short term, absolutely. And you talked about, you know, the challenge Webster Library has is our collection costs are lower than our collection costs for our books. >> Y are lower than other libraries. So is this thing going to like we'll solve that in it'll finally get better in like 2070 2065 once we've paid for this bond then? >> Well, actually the town board has um at least historically so far made a commitment to get 10,000 extra tourism collections every year.

So we're actually making progress towards that now. Will it make it more sustainable long term? Yes, absolutely. But thankfully, this town board's been supporting the increases to collections every year, which has been very helpful. Good. And as we move forward, like one of my worries is we overcommit to not renewing the lease and the bond resolution fails. Worst case scenario, we tell everyone we're not going to renew the lease, bond resolution fails, and everyone has a new tenant. What's the backup plan? I don't think the library board has expressed a backup plan other than building a new building.

Um, and I don't think that the landlord is eager to lose us. >> I was saying like worst case where you tell him we're not going to remove the lease and the bond resolution pass like worst case 5% chance. >> Well, maybe we would tell him um after we get the bond approved perhaps. >> Um, but I'd say there's options in of of sequence there that we have. All right. And then lastly, I know some clarification. Thank you for saying the lease. Uh there's been some question about whether or not the prior town supervisor Ron Nes should have signed this lease. Um it is signed between the town board and the and the landlord building.

So based on that being signed by mebbit makes sense to me legally because it's between the town of Webster and the landlord. If it was between the library and the landlord, it might have been different. >> I'm I'm not sure what your point is. Uh just clarifying that for the record of that conversation of like whether or not Ron should have signed this lease. So I've got some other questions that we can view offline as we move forward to do this to hopefully get in there. So thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Councilman. Counciloman. >> Well, Garrett asked many questions. I the the first question I had was I understand we're paying below market rate for the rent today, but as a long-term, I guess, would there an option if they really want to keep us, is there an option to lower the rent?

And I don't know if that conversation has been considered or talked about any indication from the the landlord an appetite for lower rent. >> So, uh, in the times that I've talked to him, um, as opposed to when I when I told him, I was like, "This is really about the bottom line. Is there any way you can help us?" >> Um, he has said, you know, it'd be a lot easier for me to give you extra space or this or that. Um, so he does not seem to have an appetite yet. Um, that doesn't mean he won't. Um, he and I are still in contact. Um, so I, you know, if we do end up considering renting, um, I'm going to work to get the best rental deal.

Um, but again, as I mentioned to Councilman Wagner, the library board's really, you know, made the same decision a lot of us have, which is to purchase rather than rent. >> Yeah. >> And and I get that. And in the long run, having our own library, that would be really a a great thing to have for the community. The question is is really the timing, right? Because the town has a lot of debt right now from other projects. So, would would we want to consider paying some of that debt down before we were talking about making this very large investment? There could be some crossover period where you say, "Hey, how far do we want to pay down our debt before we consider taking on new new debt?" Would be one.

And two, if during that period we can negotiate a lower rental fee, then then that might be something that kind of gets us over the hump to get to a new library. I mean, ultimately, I don't think anybody would really argue that having a brickandmortar town library. Ultimately, at some point in the future would be beneficial to the community. Really, it comes down to the timing. Um, that that's one, the the lower rent. And I think a lot of these assumptions I was very surprised by the renovation 20 million to 11 million because again those those costs too can be phased in over time and I think the library is pretty nice.

I mean yes it's 10 years old but does it really need a complete renovation for $11 million now? Maybe not. And it it just looked to me like you you take the rental fee and you add $11 million and it's just the same cost as buying. So it just looks like it's even and it makes sense. But I think there are a lot of moving parts to how this um can be modeled and um I'm not sure Paul if you were involved at all in any of this modeling. No, not not until today. >> So, I mean really it would be important for the finance director to be involved in the modeling because well you you look at this and there's a lot of highlevel assumptions in it.

Paul has the view to the entire town budget and and what expenses are growing and you know pressure to the tax cap and pressure from retire you pressure from everything from inflation, benefits, healthcare. So to to look at it in a vacuum without having Paul weigh in is just I would think an appropriate next step before we go too far down the line. and and you do have six I mean six years is going to go by fast. I know it doesn't seem like a long time. It's a long time and it's not a long time at the same all in the same breath there. Um but those those would be some of my concerns and I maybe I'm stealing Councilman Kate for you to finish up and then we'll go.

>> Let's keep it going on Jennifer asking questions. John has said in the past, which I agree with, that 45,000 ft² is that really how much space you need. There's when you walk into the lobby, there's just like a big open area before you get to the library. So, you know, can you name that 230 square ft 30,000 square ft? Um, and that's another thing to consider because if you [laughter] >> I'm not trying to make this meeting last forever. I just >> I'm sorry. I'm not trying to I'm under pressure now. You're not under pressure. >> We're teasing. We wanted to keep going. >> Yeah. I I just think, you know, you changed the math by changing this from 45,000 square ft to 30,000 ft.

Changes the the economics of this tremendously. So, I I will yield so I don't take up all of John or >> we just started board meeting 7:30, you think? >> Yes. >> Oh, yeah. I wasn't looking at the clock. Well, I I appreciate everybody's input and and one of the things that that I'm concerned about is timing uh of these discussions in public and sending the wrong message to our landlord. Um, and one thing that that I don't think has been addressed yet is is, you know, these costs in relation to our current debt load. That's what really concerns me. It's not just this potential project. it's other potential projects.

Um I think you had mentioned a 30-year lease. Um I I wouldn't be in favor of a 30-year lease at this point. Um, the other point that Derek made, which which I thought needed a little attention to, was um, questioning whether Ryan Mezba had, you know, is he the right person to sign the the uh, the lease or would the library board be more appropriate? Well, here here's my position on that. Okay. And I think I asked you at the garlic festival which was fantastic um where your money comes from and it comes from the town. So the question is Ryan NZ the appropriate person to to sign the lease. Well, in my opinion, absolutely 100% he's the person because a discussion I would assume came from the board related to that um that lease agreement and the board analyzed it and said, "Yeah, this seems reasonable to us." Now, other people may look at that lease and have a different opinion, but with respect to the right person, he absolutely was the right person.

And that discussion that we're the discussion we're having right now we'll have subsequent discussions is about affordability and the disc the discussion will take place with the board because we have to decide how much money or taxpayer money to put forward. So to me, it's not so much about the space, how many square feet, it's about cost. Second is square feet because the two are obviously related. Um I I just would also ask the question, have you sat down and put together um an offer to the landlord? because I I think it's very premature to be having these discussions with the landlord and most certainly is premature to make this board have put forward a decision whether to not renew the lease to build a new building because I'm not going to commit to building a new building in 2020 or 2032.

We won't even be on this board. So why would I put financial constraints on a future board? I think there's I think there's more analysis that needs to be done and Garrett has brought up a lot of points. >> John, can I expand on one thing real quick? >> Sure. >> So, something for everyone to know in the residents in the room, this is a multi-step process. So, let's say we continue to do our work another two weeks, two months, whenever we get done the process and we decide at some point at time board that we're to want to build a new library and it's going to cost X. and they'll pick $30 million because that's what's used to let everybody know the process.

The town boards decide we want to build a new library for $30 million. There'll be a bond vote to the public. Ultimately, the board will decide first. The public, all of you gets to decide and there'll be a vote. There might be a separate vote. You know, it could be July 15th, there's one item on the ballot, the library, that's it. Or it could be the same day as the November election. But ultimately this comes down to a multi-step process of the board makes the first decision and if we decide to bond the residents in Webster have the ultimate choice. Just to clarify that because we don't do this often so I think it's good to just talk about right >> the future outlook.

>> So you you haven't put together an offer for the the current landlord, right? >> Um I'm asking him for an offer. Um we modeled a couple different options for him and he hasn't followed up yet. So we modeled things like what if he cut the base rent in half, kept taxes and can the same since those are fixed costs for him. Um so we modeled that. He did not seem that that was workable. Um and again based on that average analysis that I did um you know the market rate currently is $23. So us being at below half that is really great when you compare it to other rentals. Um but the likelihood of us getting significantly less than market rate I I think is unlikely.

So the only suggestion I would make going forward is that um any financial analysis um that our director of finance be included in those discussions and um again I just think this is very premature. I would hate to see something drastic measure a drastic measure be taken by the um the current owner of the plaza and we had no place to go. That's my that's just my opinion. So, thank you. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Councilman Hunter. >> Thank you guys so much for putting that together. Um you know, Councilman Wagner, you made a really good point in that this really is a thousand foot view >> space above that.

Yeah. Um, and that's it's important to recognize because all of this truly is speculative data. Um, and the reason that I think that's important to bring up because there's also an aspect that we didn't speak about at all and that the goal when we have capital projects is to try to whittle down the potential cost to the taxpayers. Um, you know, so that comes to things like town partnerships, that comes to things like grant funds. Have there been, and I know we're very premature, but has there been anything on the radar with potential uh partnerships or grant opportunities to help whittle that cost down?

Cuz in an ideal world, shoot, using things like that, we can get the cost down below what the rent would be and then it becomes a positive. >> Um [clears throat] yeah, so um there is a a state program for construction aid for libraries. That's the primary grant for which we'd be eligible outside of maybe private funding. um which we are also um uh uh not only looking for more of but also happy recipients of um which I think I'd mentioned at the maybe at the April board meeting. Um but yeah, there's a Monroe County gets about $1.7 million right now for library construction aid per year. Typically, Monro County Library um prioritizes new builds.

Um and that usually comes out to the tune of maybe a million, a million and a quarter. Um if state funding for construction continues to increase um then, you know, we would get a proportion more of that. It's usually split between multiple projects, but new libraries tend to get the bulk of it. >> How much money is available? Do you know? >> Yeah, about 1 to 1.25 million right now. Yeah, it's 1.7 for the whole county, but projects don't typically get the whole whole amount. >> It's really all I had, guys. Thank you so much for putting that together. It is early on, but that's important because it's a big financial decision.

Um, so really understanding the rent, renovation, build is um this is when we do it. So, thank you guys. >> Yeah, thank you guys so much. >> Well, Alex, do you have any question? No, honestly, you guys answered most of it. I can ask anything. I would ask though that um I believe, you know, this will not be the last time you're at a workshop presenting stuff. Would you guys be willing to look into more private funding, state funding, possibly have a presentation on what's that available and what that would look like down the down the road? >> Sure. >> Um something we got. So, this isn't related specifically to the library.

related to an issue that was taken off the agenda was the build out and I need to I need to thank um all of the people involved in the discussions. It was some were very high level, some were very very intense. Um, but the involvement of our building uh department has has really helped a lot because some of these discussions got very very contentious and I appreciate and respect um all those people from the town that were involved um because I took a pretty deep dive into it and um I really appreciate the input. Keith and Kevin, Paul, I appreciate all your your input. So, thank you. And then on the library, one quick thing just as everyone just realized this is a long journey.

So tonight is not a setback. Tonight is the continuation of a long journey. This is a major project for us to figure out and we need to get it right. We need to spend the time and energy to get it right in the best possible way. So >> we'll keep working on it. >> Well said. Thank you very much. Uh with that I will close up the workshop.