The Clendenin branch of the Kanawha County Public Library was severely damaged when around 9 feet of water inundated the building in the June 2016 flood. Gazette-Mail file photo
By: Ryan Quinn, Staff Writer | Posted: May 14, 2018 | Source: WV Gazette-Mail
The Clendenin branch of the Kanawha County Public Library, which has been closed since the June 2016 flood, is to reopen in a new place May 30, according to the library system’s director.
Alan Engelbert said Monday that work continues to ready the library in the former Clendenin Middle School.
“We’re very grateful to the Kanawha County Commission, who had spearheaded the build-out of the space,” Engelbert said at a meeting of the library system’s board. He said the build-out was essentially complete May 1.
“We’ve been erecting shelving units and getting collection out there, pulling together furnishings and all of those kinds of issues, and hiring staff,” he said.
“It is such a fantastic opportunity to get that library back up there,” said Monika Jaensson, president of the library board. “I think that’s going to be a great, great thing for Clendenin.”
The former Clendenin branch got 9 feet of water in the flood.
In place of the closed branch, the Mobile Library “Bookmobile” bus, where patrons can check out items, has been serving the Clendenin area. The system also opened an “Elk Valley Express” temporary location in Big Chimney.
The Elk Valley branch in Crossings Mall reopened last year following the rebuilding of the flood-destroyed entrance bridge to that shopping center, and that branch is about a 10-minute drive from the Clendenin branch’s previous location.
The system is renting the middle school building, and it’s unclear whether it’ll become a permanent location.
Also Monday, the board hired Charleston-based David Pray and his company, PrayWorks LLC, as “owner’s representative” on the project to renovate and expand the main library location in downtown Charleston. Jaensson said Pray will begin working this month.
The approved contract says PrayWorks will be paid $10,000 per month until the “Commencement of Construction Date … at which time the fees will be increased to $13,500 per month.” The contract also keeps the door open for additional fees for “other professional services.”
In November, library officials said construction would start in the fall and take 18 to 24 months to complete
“In general, Consultant shall act as an extension of the Client’s staff and shall facilitate and monitor the activities of key Project participants during the design and construction phases of the Project,” the contract says.
Among Pray’s duties in the contract are “leading and assisting with the development of an aggressive, yet realistic, schedule from design through to construction completion”; helping “in the creation, negotiation of, and administration of all contracts and purchase orders relating to design, construction, and other project services”; and “review and recommendation to [the library system] regarding invoice payment, change order proposals, and change order approval.”
Pray is also tasked with analyzing all bids and helping to obtain possible state and federal tax credits.
Reach Ryan Quinn at ryan.quinn@wvgazettemail.com, facebook.com/ryanedwinquinn, 304-348-1254 or follow @RyanEQuinn on Twitter.
