Library needs safer stairway

WEST PARIS —  Library Trustees, at the June 28 selectmen's meeting, discussed the plans they have for installing a new stairway leading to the library's parking area.

"We have been exploring what to do ... to make it safer," said library trustee Terry Merrill. A stairway would extend from the back parking lot, up the hill and to where the current walkway is, she said.

Trustees weighed the pros and cons of installing a wooden walkway versus a cement walkway. Merrill said that a cement walkway would include "a ton of groundwork," and would perhaps be too expensive.

Money for the stairway would come out of the library fund.

Another concern, said library trustee Bruce Downing, is "freezing and thawing with the cement, and a lot more landscaping would have to be done ... so water wouldn't run onto the cement walkway."

Instead, contractor Jeff Shock suggested building a four-foot-wide boardwalk.

"Along with that," he said, "I donated a seating area for the library so people can sit outside, use the wi-fi and read a book." The seating, he said, would be built off of the boardwalk.

Downing pointed out that, the wooden posts would be built on cement piers, so it would not have any contact with the soil. This way, he said, the library would save money on grading the land, and wouldn't have to worry about replacing cracking cement.

Merrill said that providing a safer walkway could mean that more people will use the library, especially in the winter time. She said the day before the meeting, 75 people came to the library.

"For some people it's very difficult to get up the back walkway without a railing," Merrill said.

She assured that with a new boardwalk, more handicapped people would be able to access the library without any trouble. 

Downing said that, even for someone in perfect physical health, using the back walkway in the winter time "is very challenging." The current composite decking, trustees agreed, is simply unsafe.

Selectmen agreed, saying that building a new walkway would best address the library's safety concerns.

In other news, the board:

• Approved the proposed amendments to the General Assistance ordinance.

• Set the 2012 tax rate at $15.20 per 1,000 valuation – up 40 cents from last year.