The Kanawha County Public Library board voted Monday to cancel its contract with an architectural firm for designing a new main branch, and gauge other companies' interest in the project.
But Charleston-based ZMM Architects & Engineers, which the library hired in 2002 to design the now-abandoned roughly $40 million building concept, will still submit an expression of interest to be reselected for the downsized project, said Adam Krason, a principal at ZMM.
Library board President Cheryl Crigger Morgan, who said the contract cancellation wasn't due to any dissatisfaction with ZMM, has said a $20 million project now seems more reasonable, given the fact the library has only raised about $14 million in private dollars and pledges, and no other public agencies seem willing to donate.
Krason said there's no financial penalty for the library canceling the contract. He said ZMM donated $50,000 toward the new main branch and provided $50,000 in in-kind services on the larger concept.
"We've certainly enjoyed the relationship," he said.
Alan Engelbert, the library system's director, said the library wanted to make sure it was following competitive bidding laws for the new project, which he expects to be "substantially different" from the previous main branch project -- even in the seemingly rare chance that it could still be located on the originally proposed site, at the corner of Lee Street and Leon Sullivan Way near the Clay Center. Engelbert said the property there was estimated to cost $10 million.
"So we're simply opening up the process again," he said, "just as we're opening up the whole concept of the library and where it may wind up."
The new document seeking firms that are interested in providing architectural and engineering services states "the Board intends to pursue construction that may range from addition and renovation of the existing Library, to adaptive reuse of an existing building, to construction of a new Main Library, or some combination thereof."
The current main library branch, at the corner of Capitol and Quarrier streets in downtown Charleston, is about 53,000 square feet. The larger concept was for 120,000 square feet, but the expression of interest document states the new project's size is currently undetermined and will depend, among other factors, on available funding.
Whatever firm is selected -- submissions of interest are due Oct. 26, and Engelbert expects the board to select a company in December -- will work with former state Sen. Brooks McCabe, a real estate broker with Charleston-based West Virginia Commercial, to identify locations for the new main branch. Engelbert noted several issues with the current main branch, including a lack of parking.
Also Monday, Engelbert suggested to board members selling a collection of rare, non-West Virginia-related books, which he said take up about 30 three-foot-long shelves in the library. He said he didn't know the exact value of the books, but said they've never been used for research and aren't in general circulation.
But some board members said they wanted to know more about the items before making a decision.
"I hope we're thoroughly investigating this collection to make sure we're not losing something that's one of a kind," member Kenneth Bailey said.
"It just seems to be inconsistent with our jobs to be out selling our books," said fellow member Michael Albert.
Engelbert said he'll provide a list of the books to board members but suggested they keep it secret, and also declined to describe to the Gazette-Mail what he called a specifically valuable collection therein.
"We consider them too valuable to put into general circulation, or to put even into the Collectors Corner book sale that we do every year," he said when asked about the secrecy. "... Some of them are quite special and unusual, and we want to make sure that we're handling them carefully and properly."
Engelbert said it may be more appropriate to donate them to West Virginia institutions, like universities.
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazette.com, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.