The Pettes Memorial Library in Brome Lake is forging ahead with a planned expansion project despite the fact that a provincial grant program, from which they were hoping to get funding, has been discontinued.

Pettes Memorial Library Director Jana Valasek told the BCN she and her colleagues had been working on the expansion - which includes a new annex, renovations to the existing building and improved landscaping - for the past six years. By the end of 2024, an application was submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Communications (MCC) for a grant of around $2 million through the Programme d'aide aux immobilizations (PAI: Infrastructure Assistance Program). "There was no hint there was going to be a problem ... until we learned that the government completely shut the program down.

"Last year we hired a project management team - we completed the [functional and technical evaluation], the next step would be to hire the architects and we had that all set out, but then everything stopped in its tracks," Valasek said. "We have had to rethink things a little bit, but we are working on seeing how we can move ahead."

Valasek painted a picture of a library that had largely outgrown its current space. "We desperately need space to hold programming or events," she said. "We have no meeting room, no place to welcome classes of children, or groups, or any kind of programming, or a guest speaker. We have one room with a table that seats ten people which also serves as the [staff] lunchroom. We just need to have a bigger space dedicated to programming. I would really like to develop the children's space to make it more specialized and welcoming."

She said the current plan was to move forward with the renovation in phases, relying on fundraising and smaller grants that are available for specific upgrades, like improving accessibility or modernizing the heating system. "We are going to focus on building the annex and having a new children's area and a welcome desk where people can walk in from the park more easily ... although we will keep the Victorian front door," she said, adding that no longer being bound by the terms of the MCC grant would make some aspects of the project simper. "Hopefully we will build next spring," she said. "This is not stopping us."

She said it was too early to share a precise estimate of how much the project would cost or how much an eventual fundraising campaign would have to raise, but several large donations had already been received. The Town of Brome Lake (TBL) has already set aside $1 million to fund the project: at the most recent council meeting, and additional $600,000 was earmarked "for future expenses related to the downtown revitalization of Coldbrook Park and the Pettes Memorial Library project," according to TBL communications director Ghyslain Forcier.

PROGRAM TO REOPEN WITH NEW FORMAT

Maryse Dubois, a spokesperson for Brome-Missisquoi MNA Isabell Charest, confirmed the the PAI had been suspended, and that a "new-look" PAI would be rolled out with a call for applications in the fall. "The program's objectives remain the same, but certain procedures have been improved to provide greater predictability for partners and reduce the number of steps required before approval," she said.

"Since 2019, my team and I have been closely monitoring the Pettes Memorial Library expansion project. Numerous meetings and discussions have taken place between my office, the project committee and the MCC," Charest said in a statement, noting that she met with the expansion project committee last month. "In the current context, the government had to make the responsible decision to focus its investments in the new version of the PAI this year on maintaining existing infrastructure rather than on expansion projects ... The library team has already take important steps in structuring its financial package. I remain fully committed to supporting the realization of this flagship project for the Brome Lake community.

To learn more about the Pettes Memorial Library expansion project or to pledge your support, contact the library directly at pettes.bpl@gmail.com, or call" 450 243-6128.