Tension between councillors at the last Region of Queens council meeting seems to have come from a simple accounting misunderstanding.

Many councillors were upset when it was revealed the cost to build the new library at Queens Place didn’t include $950,000 for the driveway, and other necessary infrastructure.

Several other sites were under consideration, but Queens Place was selected when it was determined each of the other locations would require up to $600,000 to prepare the sites for construction.

Coun. Maddie Charlton represents District 3, which includes the current home of the Thomas H Raddall Library in Liverpool. She was one of the councillors who initially voted against building the new library at Queens Place.

She was convinced to change her vote when the library committee reported to council that each of the eight sites being considered would need hundreds of thousands of dollars of work to accommodate the new build.

Charlton was also worried that if the project was delayed any longer Queens could be without library services as the Rossignol Centre which currently houses the library is up for sale.

“That is a concern and that was also a part of why in back in January of this year I changed my mind and supported the location at Queens place because the library building is up for sale. It’s very old, it has its issues,” said Charlton. “And I'm a big supporter of the library so this this is difficult for me because I want to make sure residents have a library but also at the same time, we need to make sure that you’re representing your taxpayers the best way as well.”

Charlton and other members of council argued the Queens Place site was being misrepresented as the least expensive location when it now appears to cost almost twice as much as some of the other options.

Mayor Darlene Norman says after that meeting, she asked Region of Queens staff to explain why the numbers seem so out of whack. The mayor says all the sites were evaluated on several factors such as flood-risk mitigation, demolition, and clean-up of any contamination.

She says the difference has to do with the land the municipality is selling to province for the new long-term care facility on the Queens Place site.

“It has been the historic action of council,” said Norman. “There’s not a policy but it has always been when land is sold in the Queens Place area Queens Place Crossing the money is used to invest in future infrastructure on that land.”

Norman says because of that, the cost of providing infrastructure and extending the driveway to the proposed library on the Queens Place site weren’t factored in.

The funding for the new library is coming from a $3 million surplus in the 2022-23 municipal budget.

Council will once again discuss if the library should be built on Queens Place land or moved to another location at their next regular meeting scheduled for this coming Tuesday, Feb. 28.

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