It will be two more weeks until Fitchburg residents will find out if the public library will be equipped with a geothermal heating and cooling system.
After an hour-and-a-half discussion that included participation from several residents, the Fitchburg Common Council voted 5-2 to defer a resolution that would instruct architects to design the library with a geothermal system until Jan. 26.
Alder William Horns said coming in under the $10 million price tag for the building is not a decision he takes lightly and he wanted more time to think about it before making a decision.
"For some people, coming in under that number is a big deal, and it goes to the integrity of the Council and the meaning of a referendum," Horns said. "I'm not saying it's a financially big deal. I'm saying we are going to hear about it if we don't come in under that number."
He and alders Richard Bloomquist, Carol Poole, Shawn Pfaff and Darren Stucker voted to table the resolution while alders Steve Arnold and Andy Potts voted against. Alder Swami Swaminathan was absent.
Without a decision, architects from Engberg Anderson will continue to work on two designs - one with and one without - and that will cost the city extra money, director of public works Paul Woodard said. He estimated it would cost the city up to $12,000.
Bloomquist said he liked the idea of geothermal for the library but he does not like the city going over the budget to build it.
"If we say this is what we want, we have to have geothermal then all the sudden something's got to give in that library, we'll take something out," Bloomquist said. "We're also under this constraint, because of our population, that powers over us said we need a square foot library of X square foot, so do you build a building and short it for books or do you short it for whatever just so you can have geothermal?"
Of the 30 citizens at the meeting, 15 registered in support and six spoke. Of those six, five were in favor of the system and one was undecided.
Sam Cooke, chair of the Resource Conservation Commission, told the council that geothermal would help protect two resources for the city: the environment and taxpayer dollars.
"Why would we ever want to turn our backs on something that could save millions of dollars for future taxpayers?" Cooke asked.
RCC member Linda Weidemann said that at the previous week's brown bag lunch meeting about the geothermal, Library Board member Mary Kay Zimbrick made a good point about the building being not only a library but a municipal facility, as well.
"Because it is a municipal building, we really have a responsibility to the people of Fitchburg to make this the best, most energy-efficient building that we can," Weidemann said.
Woodard told the council that the building could not eventually become net-zero in energy without the geothermal system.
"The idea is if you geothermal it gets you all electric usage and once you go all electric it allows you to put photovoltaic cells on the roof," Woodard said.
Mayor Jay Allen said when it comes to the fiscally responsible aspect of building the library, sometimes spending money upfront to save money in the long run is the best thing to do.
"There's this question of what's fiscally responsible and I've heard a lot of times up here from people that the fiscally responsible answer is to simply not spend money," Allen said. "But that's not always the case. Sometimes the fiscally responsible answer is to make an investment that you know is going to pay off."
The Library Board and library oversight committee will both meet Jan. 20. The library will also hold a public session Jan. 28 to gather community input on the emphasis of its opening day collection.
