It was a little surreal sitting at the Bayard Taylor Library board meeting on Oct. 20, listening to the board members talk with great excitement about architects, land deals, appraisals, and so forth -- when they just got pretty much the most negative feasibility study possible, telling them there was no way they were ready to start a capital campaign.
The only part of the feasibility study the board seems to be paying attention to is the consultant's recommendation to embark on a massive communication program. The board seems confident that hiring a communications person and doing some newsletters, emails and focus groups will do the trick in terms of improving their tarnished reputation and winning back support from the community.
Board President Susan Mackey-Kallis said, "If we show a commitment that we're serious about moving forward, if we send that message, that might be the way to show we're past the back-and-forth, back-and-forth."
At the meeting John Cacciola of the Aegis Property Group gave a presentation about steps needed to get the building project for the new library moving. He talked about the positive discussions he has had with officials from Kennett Square borough over the Weinstein property on East State Street (the latest site the library is eyeing for its new building). It all sounded great -- except for the key caveat that the board seemed to skip over: "assuming funding is positive along the way."
I don't want to sound churlish, but that's a big "if."
I heard no hint among the board members that they really "heard" the negative statements about the board and its chances for raising millions of dollars that came out loud and clear in the feasibility study. I didn't hear, "Wow! We really need to take a look at how we messed up."
Instead there were optimistic discussions about when to put the Waywood site back on the market, when to embark on the "silent phase" of the fundraising campaign, and whether the board should use Dropbox to share documents among themselves.
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