Existing Leonardtown Library in former National Guard armory
Leonardtown, MD –– The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County want a smaller, cheaper Leonardtown Library. At a Feb. 23 budget workshop, the commissioners balked at a proposed 44,465 square-foot building at a price tag of $16.6 million.
Commissioner Mike Hewitt [R – 2nd District} jumped on the proposal when it was presented by Director of Public Works and Transportation George Erichsen. The proposal presented was based on recommendations from a consultant as to the square footage needed in the new library. The facility would also have offices for the county library system.
Hewitt said it was a matter of parity. He noted that the Lexington Park Library, which is often touted as the system’s crown jewel, is only 26,000 square feet.
Hewitt said the project should be pared down to a cost of $8 or $9 million to allow both the library and a new Garvey Senior Center to be built for about $15 million.
There has been some discussion about combining the library and senior center in one building for shared restroom and meeting facilities. But Erichsen noted that there still would have to be enough parking for both uses.
Erichsen reported to the commissioners that the Library Board of Trustees intended to revisit the original consultant’s plan for the 44,000 square feet but their meeting was put off because of the snow. They are expected to meet this week.
The commissioners asked that a new proposal be brought back in time to make a decision on the capital budget before the public hearing in April.
The commissioners, at Hewitt’s suggestion, recently revisited the earlier decision of the former board to build a new library instead of renovating the existing 1954 building that was formerly a National Guard Armory. At that meeting the commissioners seemed to be leaning towards locating the library on the county-owned Hayden Farm site where the new Captain Walter Francis Duke Elementary School is under construction.
Before the decision by the former commissioners to shelve a new library, there was a strong push by the Mayor and Town Council of Leonardtown to locate the library on a donated tract of land across from Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home.
Commissioner John O’Connor [R – 3rd District] wanted the commissioners to make a public decision to locate the library on Hayden Farm site. “I don’t want it (the site selection) derailed by politics,” O’Connor said.
But Hewitt urged the commissioners to allow the town to speak their piece on the issue. O’Connor responded, “I don’t want him (the mayor) selling it,” adding the library would not only be serving Leonardtown but a “larger area.”
The commissioners in the end went along with Hewitt and delayed the final decision on the new library site to give Leonardtown 30 days to respond.
The discussion on the library came in a four-hour session in which the commissioners went over most items in the proposal Fiscal Year 2016 capital budget. During the discussion it was announced that the Cedar Lane Apartments board has suggested the relocation of the Garvey Center at a site near them so that their residents would be within walking distance of the activities there. Consequently, that discussion will enter into the mix about the co-location of the library and senior center.
On another item, the commissioners pulled $2.8 million in county money for a new Advanced Life Support (ALS) building. The unit has reportedly purchased a site on Cedar Lane for the new building. They are currently located on the MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital property in a leased building. The hospital desires not to extend the lease when it expires in 2017.
O’Connor said the county needed to look at the need for more than just a central ALS unit. Director of Emergency Services and Technology Bob Kelly said the issue is complicated by the existence of seven rescue squads. He also pointed out the operational cost impact of having more than one ALS unit.
The item was new for the capital budget and several of commissioners asked for a presentation on the project before they decide whether to put the monies in the 2016 capital budget.
On another item, O’Connor had earlier touted the county purchasing the vacant former PNC Bank building on the Leonardtown square for county offices. At the Feb. 23 work session O’Connor withdrew the idea and the commissioners pulled the $1.9 million purchase price from the budget. The town is hoping to entice tax-paying retail businesses into the building. “I’ll give them a good chance to sell to someone else,” Commissioner President Randy Guy [R] said of the decision.
What to do about the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum garnered a lot of discussion. The museum board wants the county to contribute $130,000 to the operation of the new museum once it opens later this year and also to pay $570,000 from the capital budget to renovate the existing museum and an auxiliary building. In the end the commissioners voted 3-2 to keep the monies in the budget.
Commissioner Todd Morgan [R- 4th District] expressed concern about the requested funding, saying there was no business plan to back it up. “We haven’t heard what they are going to do with the two buildings.” He noted the suggestion of a conference center but also observed that the Daugherty Conference Center across the street had gone out of business with the opening of the Water’s Edge Conference Center on base.
But Commissioner Hewitt disagreed, noting that not everyone can get on base and the renovated buildings could be used for them. “I can’t get on base,” he said.
Hewitt, who resigned from the museum board after being elected, made an emotional pitch for the museum. Hewitt disagree with Morgan that there was no business plan and praised the museum board for their fundraising efforts in the past.
Hewitt, however, said if he had been commissioner at the time he wouldn’t have agreed to build the new museum. But he said that is water over the dam as the museum is under construction and will be finished soon. “I believe it will be a benefit to Lexington Park,” he said. “I believe it will bring in tourism. We can make Lexington Park a destination that you will want to take your children.”
Commissioner President Randy Guy [R], who was the tie-breaking vote, said the county couldn’t walk away from the project now. And Tom Jarboe [R; 1st District], the other commissioner to support the funding, said, “It’s our baby.”
Morgan and O’Connor voted against the motion to keep the museum monies in the budget.
The commissioners next budget work session is Monday March 9 at 1:30 p.m.
Contact Dick Myers at news@thebaynet.com