After two years and $100,000 spent lobbying the state, Largo gets closer to a new library.
By LORRI HELFAND
Published June 25, 2003
LARGO - City commissioners took a cake break from a meeting Tuesday to celebrate the city receiving a long-awaited $500,000 grant for a new $21-million Largo Library.
On Monday, Gov. Jeb Bush signed the state budget that included the grant.
The news is extra sweet to commissioners because it followed a couple of years of controversial lobbying efforts.
"It felt good to be vindicated," Mayor Bob Jackson said Tuesday morning. "I took a lot of grief for hiring a lobbyist."
To get the grant, the city spent $50,000 this year and the same amount last year to hire former city commissioner and Secretary of State Sandra Mortham.
Mortham's work focused on securing funding for the library, but she also kept the city informed about other issues in Tallahassee, Assistant City Manager Henry Schubert said.
Some critics said it was a $100,000 gamble for a $500,000 return. But Jackson said her work was crucial.
"We would never have got that grant if we did not have a lobbyist in Tallahassee," Jackson said at the work session, minutes before diving into a corner piece of the vanilla-frosted cake.
Now that the library is closer to its goal, commissioners are breathing a sigh of relief. "You never know until the governor signs the budget. Last year we lost it at the last second," Commissioner Pat Gerard said. "It's been a lot of angst, getting to this point."
Last year, the money made it into the legislative budget, but was vetoed by Bush.
With this grant, the city has brought in more than $1-million for the new library. The Pinellas Public Library Cooperative awarded Largo $200,000 in construction grant funds and a federal grant for $360,000 was also awarded.
In the early stages, Largo resident Rodney Woods was not a supporter of the new library. He wondered if the city could afford it. But he had a change of heart when he realized the effort wouldn't bankrupt the city, he said.
"I was a slow-goer on the library, but I'm really happy that this is going forward," he told the public audience at the work session. "Come on, everybody. Let's get together and make this library happen."
The city expects $2-million in private donations and the remaining $18-million will be funded through the Penny for Pinellas tax.
The annual budget for the Largo Library is now $2.7-million. Schubert said the new library's annual budget would be about $3.5-million.
THe City Commission took time Tuesday to peruse carpet, tile and fabric swatches that might grace the new 90,300-square-foot library.
The two-story stucco structure, slated to break ground in late August and be finished by spring 2005, will be located on the east side of Central Park Drive, across from the Largo Cultural Center.
It will have a metal roof, porches, a lot of windows and a courtyard with a gazebo and fountain. It will feature expanded space for collections, computer labs, multimedia resources, special services for children and teens and a coffee shop in the lobby.
Largo Library began in 1916 in the Largo Town Hall Building. It had about 560 books.
The first librarian was paid $2 per week.
The current starting weekly wage for a Largo librarian is $550.
In 1961, ground was broken for a $36,000 library on West Bay Drive between Second and Fourth streets.
In 1976, Largo spent $1-million to build the current library facility at 351 East Bay Drive. It had 30,000 volumes and was operated with a staff of 21.
Now, the Largo library has about 230,000 volumes and the most extensive genealogy department in Pinellas County. It has a staff of 65 employees and 130 volunteers.
