March is now eyed for library opening

Bordentown Library faces delays in its return to Union Street

By: Scott Morgan
   Early in the year, optimistic Burlington County officials projected that the displaced Bordentown Library could be ready to move back into its traditional home on Union Street in Bordentown City by the end of December.
   With the end of the year about a week away, those optimistic projections are going to have to wait a little longer. While exterior construction to the library building — the fruits of an expansion project to provide more space — is done, there is still a lot of inside work to get finished, said county spokesman Ralph Shrom last week. That work is, partially, on hiatus while the county waits for some things officials thought they would have (such as carpeting) that are still on backorder.
   Landscaping projects at the site also are on hold due to a recent spate of wintry weather, Mr. Shrom said.
   All the delays — something the expansion project has had to contend with from the outset — are frustrating county officials, who say they just want the library to go home. Since March 2003, the library collection has been housed in the Fieldsboro Municipal Building while its 4,200-square-foot Union Street home has been getting a 10,550-square-foot expansion.
   "We’re all getting a little anxious," Mr. Shrom said.
   The latest delays are just more logs on a fire that has been frustrating county and library officials for nearly three years. The $2.4 million project has been hampered by construction delays, funding trouble and the eventual dismissal of the contractor charged with the building portion. Altchem Environmental Services, a Southampton, Pa.-based firm, was fired by the county freeholders in February, only to be subsequently rehired in June.
   These days, Mr. Shrom said, workers just need "somewhat of a break in the weather" and the delivery of some equipment and supplies and things should wrap up fairly smoothly.
   He said the projected completion of all construction and landscaping is mid-February. Factor in a two-week moving period, he said, and the library on Union Street should, officials hope, open its door in March — exactly three years after it left.