Huntsville Item;   January 5, 2005

By Kurt Allen/Assistant Managing Editor

Although construction is continuing at the building, it's under budget so far. Photo by Richard Nira/The Huntsville Item

Ron Kolb jokes that when the New Waverly Library building is finally finished, he'll actually get to enjoy retirement.

"Whatever that is," he says.

If things come together and Kolb gets the money and volunteer help needed, the library could be finished sometime this year. And that means it's time to enjoy retirement.

With more than 70 percent of the new building constructed, Kolb said the end is actually in sight. With some manpower and funds, the new facility on State Highway 75 could be dedicated before January 2006.

If. A big if, he says.

"If we get the money we need and people come forward like they said they would, it could be done this year," Kolb said Wednesday, taking a break from the work at the library.

With the help of dozens and dozens of volunteers over the past couple of years, Kolb has labored to construct the 12,000-square-foot building that will house the New Waverly Library when it moves from its current location in the New Waverly City Hall lobby.

The facility would serve the more rural parts of southern Walker County, plus overflow from places like Willis.

"I cannot think of something that would provide more for our children than a library," Kolb said.

Manpower isn't the only thing Kolb needs, although with drywall installation, that would certainly help. He estimates about $150,000 would put the library over the hump and help complete the project.

While that may sound like a lot, especially given the projected $691,000 price tag for the entire project, things are actually under budget. Way under budget.

"If we were to have gone out and hired everything to be done, the cost would have been $691,000," Kolb said. "At this point, $492,000 (worth) has been completed, and that includes the donated labor, the value of the labor, donated materials, scavenged materials. The value of everything on the property.

"Multiply that by 48 percent, and that's what we've actually expended in money," he added. "We've actually spent only $238,000."

That means the cost-value ratio of the building is 48 percent. In better terms, it means the actual cost of building the library, not its value, will be half of what it was projected to be.

But bringing it in so under budget has required lots of time and even more physical labor by volunteers. Through pleas, haggling, negotiations and more, many of the items and work has been donated. The facility's air conditioning system, which would have been a massive outlay, was donated, saving lots of money. The same goes for the electric doors at the front of the building.

For instance, Jim Hay, a local fabricator, has done extensive work on the beams of the building. He helped for personal reasons.

"Jim told me, 'My daughter is going to be using that library, so I'm going to help,'" Kolb said.

Don Matheson, who owns A Dandy Communications in Willis, has agreed to donate and install a phone system for the building. Others, like Patrick Pitrucha and Bill Markham, have been helping Kolb put up the drywall, now that all the plumbing and electrical wiring is in place.

"It's starting to look like more completed walls," Kolb said. "Still, we've got a long way to go. That's where I could really use some help, to get that drywall in place."

The promise of help and the actual receiving of help have been two different things in many cases, though. Volunteer assistance has been slow in coming, which has made it harder to move the project along.

"We did have a fair amount of people who said they would help, but the disappointing thing is few have found the time to help," he said. "But it's not all bleak. We're at the stage where interior work is being done and the attitude has improved. If we get the money we need and people come forward, like they said they would, it could be done this year."