HVAC

Carthage library to shut for HVAC repairs

March 11 – CARTHAGE, Mo. – Julie Yockey, director of the Carthage Public Library, is hoping a long-standing problem with the library’s heating and air conditioning system may be fixed soon, but the library has to close for a few days around the find final solution.

The library announced on its Facebook page that it must close beginning Monday, March 13 and remain closed for three to five days to allow power to the building to be shut off to allow workers to make final repairs.

“The library will be without power and there will be no heating and/or air conditioning for a period of time,” Yockey said in a note on Facebook. “We hope this closure will last 3-4 days. Users will not be able to access the library or the Steadley Family Legacy Center during this time, and they will not be fined for their materials. The book store will be closed. We apologize for any inconvenience and remind you to always check our website or Facebook page for updates on when the library will reopen.”

Yockey said in an email to the Globe that a contractor has been working on the system since October 2022 and this isn’t the first time the library has been closed during this project.

“After two years of dealing with a failed HVAC system that resulted in incredibly escalating energy bills and high humidity levels, on October 24, the CPL began a full renovation of the 15-year-old system,” she said. “The library had been closed for about three weeks at that point. With no heating, air and electricity to run the library system, this had to be done. Our customers back then have been nothing but patient with the closure, and it’s not our first rodeo with major maintenance issues. We had the water disaster/sprinkler failure in 2020.”

In July 2020, the library’s sprinkler system failed overnight, dumping approximately 100,000 gallons of water into the library and requiring months of repairs to damaged floors, walls, ceilings and other areas.

Yockey said the project will cost the library a little less than $500,000. The Kent D. and Mary L. Steadley Memorial Trust is paying half of the cost, and the Helen S. Boylan Foundation is providing $10,000 to repair the library’s garden, which was damaged during construction.

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