The Galesburg Public Library Board of Trustees is left searching for clarification after a pair of bids came in drastically different for removing three buildings that sit on the library’s future site.
Library Director Harriet Zipfel cited to board members last night the nearly $180,000 discrepancy between what Galesburg Associate Planner Steve Gugliotta estimates and what architectural firm FEH Associates estimates.
However, neither included what deconstruction would cost, a process Zipfel tells WGIL would be environmentally friendly and possibly cost effective.
“Deconstruction is another thing all together,” Zipfel says. “When you try to get people either by the building and move it or sell off all the fixtures and the wiring.”
Trustees agreed they were interested in exploring deconstruction last month.
The question is will the money made by selling architectural pieces offset the cost of hiring a firm to deconstruct.
“Whoever would manage it, there would be a management fee for deconstruction,” Zipfel adds. “There’s that expense, but then we would be making money on some of the things we’ve sold. So, it’s hard to know.”
In other business last night the board of trustees seated their newest member, Elisha French.
French is a Program Manager with the State of Illinois Comptroller.
