At its December 14 meeting, the Library Board accepted the amended Facility Options Study and Recommendation to renovate upgrade both facilities as its Final Document.  A summary of community comments entitled, Appendix M: Community Feedback on Shaker Library’s Facility Options Study, was added to the executive summary of the document. The facility study information is available here.

Library Trustees agreed that the facility study showed a thorough and thoughtful analysis of the library’s options. The Board believes that it is obligated to the community to fully explore Option 3, UPGRADE and to give the community a chance to weigh in on its support.

The next step is to determine the final budget and to propose funding for community review. Preliminary financial projections were prepared as part of the study and we now must develop the final budget for the project. The earliest we would be on the ballot is November 2017. This is not only because of the work we need to do for our project, but also because we have great respect for the schools’ process and want voters to have the opportunity to address each issue separately.

In response to the suggestion that the Library Board seek inclusion with Cuyahoga County Public Library, the Board noted that seeking inclusion curtails the opportunity to explore other options and that it is important to give voters a voice before irrevocably giving away an asset Shaker residents have spent the last 80 years building and supporting.