Bond issue big test for library project

Now it's up to the voters.

The Clark County Debt Management Commission has authorized the Boulder City Library District to place up to a $5 million bond issue -- the city's first -- on the June ballot, Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said.

Library District Director Duncan McCoy said during the long process leading up to construction of a new library, a number of doors have to open.

"This is one of the biggies," he said of the bond vote.

The district, which is separate from the Clark County-Las Vegas Library District but still needs county permission to put a bond issue on the ballot, probably won't seek the entire $5 million on June 8, but McCoy said he won't know until he has a firm construction figure.

"We're in the process of negotiating with the city for its purchase of our current building," he said. The city agreed late last year to negotiate to purchase the library to house additional city services.

It is not known how much the district will need to bond for the estimated $4-million project until it knows how much the city will pay for the library's current facility.

"All this is happening because this lovely building (current library) is land locked and we are out of space," McCoy said. "A successful project will mean we will have a viable library in Boulder City for many, many years."

Following negotiations with the city will be the framing of the ballot question.

"We need to have a firm number by the end of February," McCoy said.

Plans call for the library to be built on 4 city-owned acres at the corner of Adams Boulevard and Georgia Avenue, the former site of the Southern Nevada Children's Home. The city acquired the 12-acre parcel in a swap with the state for 50 acres of undeveloped property northwest of U.S. 93, where the state wants to build its first skilled-nursing veterans home.

Initial construction of the library will include 24,000-square-feet of finished space -- double its present facility -- and a full, unfinished basement.

"There is enough room on the property to build a second building in terms of how the library grows," McCoy said.

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