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Improvements are coming to Salem Public Library. City officials say they expect them to be finished by May 2021. Statesman Journal

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City officials say they expect improvements to the Salem Public Library to be finished by May 2021.

But rising labor and materials costs that recently pushed the Salem police headquarters over budget may also force cuts to the $18.6 million library project, which voters approved in November 2017.

Cuts might include scaling back security upgrades and a redesign of the library's computer lab, said Assistant City Engineer Allen Dannen. "It could really be any element of the project."

Main focus seismic upgrades, meeting ADA standards

The main thrust of the 2017 bond measure was to seismically upgrade the library at 585 Liberty St. SE. "What we have to do is make sure that we meet the promise of the bond," Dannen said. "So that starts really with the seismic (upgrades)."

Dannen said he also didn't think some other aspects of the project, such as bringing the library up to Americans with Disabilities Act standards, could be cut, either.

To save time and money, city staff are recommending the project be guided by a design-build contractor who would hire engineers and architects, forming a single team responsible for construction and design, according to a city staff report.

"That will let us go out and basically bring our entire team on board under one contract," Dannen said. "They all come on board together and will start working on the project, starting with design and then moving into construction."

The Salem City Council on Monday will hold a public hearing on whether to go with the design-build contractor method and exempt the project from a competitive bidding process.

The contractor would give city officials a guaranteed maximum price as the design process wraps up, then be "contractually bound to deliver the project" within that price, according to the staff report.

If the exemption is approved, the contractor would be chosen based on factors such as their experience with similar projects, how innovative they are and their price.

"Knowing where the construction market's at, knowing that we put these estimates together a couple of years ago, we think it's really important that all those team members are on board at the beginning so that we can realistically assess what the costs are," Dannen said.

Project officials will then have to prioritize the library improvements, "because we may not be able to afford it all," he said.

When cost overruns rattled the Salem police station project earlier this year, city officials were able to ask the Salem Urban Renewal Agency for an additional $2 million because the project is within an urban renewal area and aspects of it meshed with urban renewal goals.

The library isn't within an urban renewal area. "I think the way we're approaching it right now is we've got to work within the bond funding that we have," Dannen said. 

"Not to say that if we were in a dire situation we wouldn't go looking under the couch cushions," he added.

An estimated 1,500 visitors come through the library daily to check out books and other materials from the library, according to city data. The library also holds upwards of 2,000 programs a year for adults, teens and children.

A 2014 study from Washington-based BergerABAM showed if an earthquake struck: book stacks within the main library may fall over; gas piping may fracture and turn into a fire hazard; and fire suppression systems could fail.

Voters approved Measure 24-423 for the library improvements in November 2017. Under the library measure, property taxes would increase by an estimated 12 cents per $1,000 of a home's assessed value.

A city website that published information on the library bond measure in the lead-up to the November 2017 election stated, "If the bond is passed, construction would be scheduled to begin in 2018 or 2019."

However, Dannen said he didn't know how that information got on the website. "What I was always looking at was, at the earliest, it would be late 2019, and now we’re tracking early 2020."

City spokesman Kenny Larson said the website with the 2018-19 timeline "has information given to me when we put the library bond fact page together back in late August of last year and hasn't been updated since the bond passed."

"I suspect that was a very preliminary estimate," Larson said. 

Updated estimates posted to the city of Salem website show construction is scheduled to start in early 2020.

Email jbach@statesmanjournal.com, call (503) 399-6714 or follow on Twitter @jonathanmbach.

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Children can take books they want to read and return books when they are finished. ANNA REED / Statesman Journal

 

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