Alice Staples: Important to be educated on pair of Ashland library-related warrants

To The Daily Sun,

The voters of Ashland will have two library-related warrant articles on the town warrant in 2023.

There is a petitioned warrant article (No. 31) to rescind last year’s vote to accept a gift of $400,000 and purchase the school building at 41 School St. Last year the vote was 196-165 in favor of accepting the gift and purchasing the building for use as the Ashland Town Library. Even though a purchase and sales agreement has been signed by the library trustees and the selectboard, the selectboard has voted 5-0 to recommend this article, while the library trustees do not support this warrant article. The library trustees recognize the 2022 vote to accept the gift and move forward with purchasing the building. In the material prepared for last year’s vote, the trustees outlined the structural, environmental, and accessibility problems with the current library building and made clear the advantages of moving to the old school. Proximity to the current elementary school is a prime advantage, as is having more meeting and collection space, off-street parking, and improved accessibility.

Also on the town warrant is a request for $15,000 for the Library Building Capital Reserve Fund (#16). This fund will be used for the renovation and furnishing of the old school or for some other facility for the Ashland Town Library.

The library, trustees, and friends are planning open houses at the school on Thursday March 9, 5-7 p.m., and Saturday March 11, 8:30-10:30 a.m. Voting will take place on Tuesday, March 14, in the school gym.

The Ashland Town Library Trustees appreciate the support for the library by the citizens and voters of Ashland. Visit the library website, ashlandtownlibrary.org for more information. If you have any questions or would like to help, please contact the trustees at ashlandlibrarytrustees@gmail.com

Alice Staples

Ashland