JOHNSTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY
                        38 South Market Street
                      Johnstown, New York 12095
                           (518) 762-8317

February 1, 1994

TO:	Mayor Dr. Robert Valachovic
	Alderman-at-Large Jack Papa
	Alderman Nicholas Cannizzo
	Alderman John DiSpirito
	Alderman Robert Kumpan
	Alderman Sam Greco
From:	Barbara Germain, Director
RE:	Phase I Project


On behalf of the Board of Trustees I would like to thank you for
taking the time to meet with us and discuss the proposed plan to
bring the Library into compliance with the Federal mandate known
as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The plan presented
represents the outcome of 6 months of diligent reviews and
evaluations by Library Trustees and Staff and Architecture +.  It
is the most cost effective option for addressing ADA and building
code deficiencies.

The next steps in the decision making process are for the Common
Council to:


          1. Determine what work you would like to be
             included in the Project.  To that end, I
             will be sending you shortly a listing of
             all other building deficiencies that are
             known to exist but were not included by the
             Board of Trustees in the proposed Phase I
             plan.  We ask that the Common Council re-
             view the listing and determine which of
             these work tasks you may want to include
             in the Project.  The Library Board encourages
             the Council to include these items in the
             Project because they represent serious de-
             ficiencies that need to be addressed.

             Once the exact scope of the Project is de-
             fined, an asbestos survey could be completed.
             As was explained at the meeting, the Library

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             Board does not want to proceed with conducting
             an asbestos survey until the specific areas
             of the building to be renovated are defined.
             This will allow the survey to focus only on
             those areas. This will help to hold down
             the cost of the survey.  The cost estimates
             presented on January 31 did not include any
             funds for an asbestos survey or asbestos
             removal work.

          2. Pass a resolution endorsing the Project,
             which will authorize Architecture + to
             proceed with the final design, and authorize
             the financing for the Project.

          3. Determine what work, such as site work, could
             be completed in-house by the City's Department
             of Public Works and to project a schedule to
             have the work completed.

The timeline in which these decisions are made is important. As
was presented to you at the meeting, it will take approximately 7
months to proceed from the final decision to the start up of
construction.  If the desire is to start construction in 1994 and
have it proceed through the winter of 1994/95, construction
should start by October 1, 1994.  This would allow the addition
to be enclosed in time to allow interim work to continue through
the winter.  In order for this timeline to occur, a decision to
proceed to final design should be made around March 1, 1994.  The
longer it takes beyond March 1, 1994 to make a decision, we are
jeopardizing the ability to allow the project to proceed through
the 1994/95 winter without higher construction costs being
incurred to pay for winter protection measures.

The Library Board of Trustees and Staff are prepared and ready to
provide any additional information you may need or desire to help
in your decision making process.  Please feel free to contact me
at any time for any information.  Thank you for your continued
interest and commitment to the Library.  I look forward to
working with you on finalizing the scope of the Phase I Project.


CC: Frank Kovarik
    Charles Ackerbauer
    Board of Trustees
    Architecture +

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