Hadley Library Trustees Table Roof Consultant Vote Until February

HADLEY -- January 14, 2025, Hadley Library Trustees deferred action on a roof engineering proposal and heard a detailed accounting of construction-era ADA deficiencies at their January 14 meeting. The board agreed to table a vote on authorizing Gale Associates to conduct building-records research and produce a schematic design and cost estimate for a standing-seam metal roof, waiting instead for a late-January meeting between town officials and the contractor before revisiting the matter at the February 11 trustees session. A subcommittee report on ADA compliance identified roughly $20,000 in cited deficiencies at the library building, including off-specification sink heights, toilet placements, and a wheelchair ramp slope at the accessible parking area, with a consultant's survey also flagging problems at the Senior Center and North Hadley Fire Station. The director described a budget submission she called unprecedented, seeking additional staff to keep pace with sustained growth in library use, with a meeting with Town Administrator Mike Mason and the town treasurer as the next step. The board also debuted the library's new independent public website, which includes a functional events calendar and a digital local history archive of Hadley cemetery records, town reports, and Hopkins Academy yearbooks accessible through the Internet Archive and Digital Commonwealth.