Friday, May. 09, 2008

City hires firm to shape library

By TODD OVERMAN

The Keller City Council officially opened another chapter in the renovation and expansion of the city’s library with the approval of a contract for the project’s design on Tuesday.

Architectural firm PSA-Dewberry was hired to design the project at a cost of $403,490, to be paid from the projects $4 million budget. That leaves nearly $3.6 million in the project’s budget.

Dennelle Wrightson, director of library architecture for PSA-Dewberry, told the council she has 28 years of experience with libraries.

"Libraries are my experience and passion," she said, adding that she worked in libraries in high school and college. However, she chose to follow her father’s footsteps as an architect. "This is a way I’ve been very fortunate to meld both of my passions."

Wrightson has been involved with 150 public library projects across the country, she said, and 13 years ago worked on two of Keller’s fire stations. She is based at the firm’s Dallas office. "It’s very nice to have one that I don’t have to get on an airplane, I just drive by the airport to get there," she said.

She said libraries can serve as a community center, and her goal is to use community input to create a library everyone can be proud of. "We, especially myself, feel that libraries are one of the most important buildings in the community," she said.

Councilman Mitch Holmes thanked Wrightson for agreeing to the fair fee for her services. With rising material costs, he said keeping the project under budget will be a challenge. "I would ask on our behalf that you be very, very conscious of our $3.2 million budget, and I challenge you to keep us within that budget," he said.

Wrightson said even library projects with $30 million budgets are challenging because all involve balancing desires with realities. She said alternate plans will be offered as options to save money. "We have full-time cost estimators on our staff," she said. "We will be constantly monitoring the budget and letting you make that decision."

City engineer Keith Fisher, who is serving as project coordinator, said meetings with the library board, city council and public presentations are all included in the design contract. "The citizens, the library board and city council will know where we are in each milestone of the project," he said. "There will be no surprises in the beginning, middle or end of the project."

Fisher said it will likely take the rest of the year to develop the design, and construction bids could be accepted in early 2009. After that, they will have a better idea how long the project will take, he said.

Mayor Pat McGrail said that PSA-Dewberry has agreed to go above and beyond in the project. Particularly, he said the firm agreed to help with a possible subcommittee of the Friends of the Library to help secure grant money. "I don’t think in all honesty we could have come up with a better firm," he said.

As discussed by the library board and council during a meeting in late April, the library would remain open while the work was being done.