Bracebridge Council approves $176,000 for assessment of old library

Councilor Barb McMurray expressed concern that costs were ballooning from $300K to $2.6 million

Bracebridge Council approved a $176,000 cost for an architectural assessment of the old Carnagie library building, in the December 10,2025, meeting.

Councillor, Barb McMurrary, expressed concern about the costs involved with the assessment and the overall estimated $2.6 million cost for construction work on the building and requested the item to be pulled from the Planning and Development minutes for further discussion.

She said, “I feel it’s a lot of money to put out at this time,” and recommended putting the initiative aside for review at another time.

Mayor, Rick Maloney, said they already had time to discuss the matter in the budget meeting.

Deputy Mayor, Brenda Rhodes, concurred, saying, “We had numerous times to debate this and debated it quite extensively,” and indicated that she would not support separating the item for further discussion.

Councillor, Don Smith, disagreed with Rhodes point, indicating that that McMurray should have the opportunity to express her view because she was away when it was previously discussed. He said in his 11 years on Council he “hasn’t seen Council not allowing an item to come back for discussion.”

“As a whole we have always agreed that we would allow people the opportunity to discuss something,” he added.

McMurray elaborated about her concern about spending $176,000 for the architectural work. She said, “A year ago all the costs including repairs would be $300,000. We have gone way beyond $300,000 to $2.6 million, and that is a huge concern to me.”

She said that people have contacted her about both costs. She added, “It’s a far reach and I’m really concerned that we’re going about this the wrong way.”

Upon Maloney’s inquiry about whether Council would have the opportunity to make decisions along the way, staff advised that they could make a final decision “after the award of tenure.”

Maloney said, “This incremental step in the process is no different than other cost estimates” for other projects they’ve done. He added, “$176,000 will allow us to have greater clarity” for future use and budgets.

Councillor, Archie Buie, inquired about whether the architectural plans will also assess the building exterior to ensure it will last long-term, rather than just the interior renovation aspects.

Staff advised that the assessment will be “a bit of both because the renovations will consider future use, however, eventually, after the renovations are done there will be a “building condition assessment.”

Buie questioned doing a review of the building structure after the architect looks at the interior renovations. He said, “I’m just trying to make sure we don’t put the horse before the cart kind of thing.”

McMurray said, “I just feel like we’re throwing mud against the wall and hoping that it sticks.”

Ultimately, Council members agreed that the architectural assessment will determine what will be needed moving forward and agreed to support the motion and next steps.

McMurray agreed with the assessment step only and said, “I hope things turn out well.”