Sign In / Register
By George Driver
The Rodney Local Board has allocated $40,000 to employ a coordinator to find a permanent tenant for the Old Wellsford Library, which has been left empty for nearly three years.
The library building was saved from sale last year after the community said it wanted to use the building for a community hub. However, when the Local Board called on applications from groups who wanted to use the library only two were submitted, and neither was found to be acceptable.
Local Board Parks, Culture and Community Development Committee chair Beth Houlbrooke says if the Board didn’t provide assistance it is likely the building would have to be sold.
“We’ve promised the community we would work with them to find a sustainable use for the library,” Ms Houlbrooke says. “It does appear there is a shortage of people in the community with a depth of experience to get things off the ground. No one group has emerged to manage the lease and we would risk losing the building if we didn’t take a proactive approach.”
An information day will be held on Thursday April 28 from 11am to 2pm.
Then a meeting will be held at the Old Wellsford Library on Thursday May 5, from 5pm to 7pm, to form a steering group to run and manage the building.
Council senior community project leader Sue Dodds says it’s a chance to have a discussion with anyone who wants to find out more before the community steering group meeting.
“We’d like to see a diverse range of people who may not have been involved in this project before,” Ms Dodds says.
At the Parks Committee meeting on April 11, Ms Dodds said a public meeting was held in the building in December to try and reinvigorate interest in the process, but nothing had happened since.
“The community confirmed in December that they want it run by the community for the community and to form a group to run it and for the building to be available to a broad range of groups,” Ms Dodds said. “We need to get a steering group to manage it, but we need to help them along with resourcing to employ somebody, otherwise we might be back in this position.”
The Board resolved to employ a part-time coordinator for a year to get an umbrella group to take the lease of the building and develop a system for other community groups to use the space.
“The idea is we assist the community to set up a steering group which will run the building,” Ms Dodds said. “The coordinator will manage that process, and pull together volunteers to get it running. They also have to identify future sources of funding over the 12 months.”
