Library projects rate a 40

The package of library improvements countywide have rated 40.1%, according to a ranking assigned today by the Oconee Capital Project Advisory Committee. Based on a scale of one-to-one-hundred, 40 sounds low—but not actually, in the opinion of committee chairman Paul Corbeil and fellow committee member Scott Moulder, county administrator. Moulder said the scoring is based on a weighted scale. “I think the 40.1 is indicative that this is a good project, one that scored well. It just didn’t have, under that one category, high overall marks,” Moulder said. He referred to the category of public health and safety and how that applies to the need for a library. Much of this morning’s discussion pertained not to library projects countywide, but to the Seneca projected specifically.  As another committee member lamented this morning, the Seneca library project has been planned and talked about for ten years. The next step in the process is consideration by the county planning commission, which in turn, is obligated to make a recommendation to the county council. It’ll be the council’s decision on how to fund the library and, as Moulder said in reply to a question from the audience, ultimately the council’s decision on where it is to be built—-if new property is involved such as the library board’s preferred location near the 123-130 intersection.