Library Update

There are always a few wonderful things that come out of difficult times.

The slumping economy in Utah is partly the result of a significant drop in construction and loss of construction jobs. This has been disastrous for state revenues and a cause of our budget cuts. It also created the perfect climate to build a college library. All the big contractors in the state (and a number of the small ones) wanted to build our library and submitted bids. We have never seen so much competitive interest in any of our projects before. We opened the bids this week and interviewed contractors. And we were shocked by the bids—several million dollars less than expected. This means we can afford the library and a number of extras we thought impossible just six months ago. Additionally, the library will be a LEED certified high performance green building—a first for Snow College and Central Utah.

Layton Construction will be building our library and as soon as we get a ground breaking date we will let everyone know. Construction will begin in a few weeks and is expected to be completed a year from summer.

The library was funded two years ago. Many of us worried, with the declining state revenues, that they would take back the money and spend it somewhere else. But they didn’t. We are very fortunate. The other good news is that a project of this size will stimulate the local economy and provide good work for hundreds of people.

We should remember the two people who made this project possible: Mike Benson, our former college president, successfully raised the necessary private funds to get it going, and Rick Wheeler, a member of the Utah Legislature at the time, took it though the legislature and governor’s office for final approval. We would not be scheduling a ground breaking without Mike and Rick. Thanks.

See you at the ground breaking!