To the Editor:

We, the 16 members of the Board of Trustees of the Cyrenius H. Booth Library, urge our neighbors, patrons of the library, and fellow residents of Newtown to turn out and vote “yes” on Question 5 in the April 22 town referendum.

Only your approval of the $4.6 million bond issue for the planning, design, acquisition and construction of HVAC upgrades, replacements, and improvements can assure the future of this venerable and cherished community resource.

To put it more simply — this is an emergency for the library and the town, and we have to do this now. One of two ancient boilers for the library heating system has already failed and the other can reasonably be described as day-to-day. The air conditioning system leaks and the control panel melted down last summer. Expensive repairs of these systems no longer buy us time.

That this day was coming has been known to the town for over a decade. In 2021, an engineering inspection of the existing HVAC systems of the library determined that the only solution would be complete replacement, within one to five years. As time passed — estimated costs of the project rose.

We cannot reasonably hope to get another year or two out of the existing HVAC systems. As fiduciaries of the library, our hopes now rest with this referendum; and we have to further hope that the existing systems will not completely fail before the new ones are in place.

We deeply appreciate the time, consideration, effort, and support of other municipal boards, councils and commissions to bring this project before voters. The library HVAC project and renovations have undergone close review and scrutiny, particularly in the last year. No one wants to spend money unnecessarily, including the library trustees.

The decision is now in your hands, the voters, to ensure that the library remains open and continues to serve the community.

We unanimously ask your support for the library HVAC project. Please vote “yes” to Question #5 on April 22.

The C.H. Booth Library Board of Trustees

Newtown