Groundbreaking ceremony for Winchester library expansion scheduled for Oct. 21
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By David Camphouse
After the Winchester city council accepted the low bid received for the expansion of the Winchester Public Library at last week’s council meeting, Winchester Mayor Rex McIntire announced a groundbreaking ceremony would be held to formally mark the beginning of the expansion project at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 21.
The low bid was received from Trotter Construction of Macomb, the same contractor which recently completed the Winchester pool renovations.
According to McIntire a number of elected officials, as well as representatives from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office, have been invited by the City of Winchester to attend the groundbreaking event.
“We’ve invited U.S. Senators Durbin and Duckworth, Congressman LaHood, Representative Davidsmeyer and State Senator McClure, as well as different people from USDA,” McIntire said.
McIntire said the groundbreaking event was also an opportunity celebrate the fact that Winchester had finally received the necessary funds from state and federal sources needed for the expansion.
“We just want to promote the fact that they got us the funding to get this done for our community,” McIntire said.
McIntire said progress on the expansion this fall is largely dependent on weather.
“There’s a lot of work that can be done in November,” McIntire said. “Or November can be full of lousy weather. It depends on the year.”
The City of Winchester, McIntire said, is eager to see work on the project commence sooner rather than later.
“We want to give them every opportunity to get going on this,” McIntire said.
The groundbreaking ceremony will take place at the rear of the library, starting at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 21. The public is welcome.
“We talked about staking out the footprint of the expansion, so people can see the dimensions,” McIntire.
In addition, light refreshments will be provided.
“We just wanted to give the politicians an opportunity for a little bit of a photo op, and we wanted to recognize the role of the Secretary of State’s Office and USDA in the project,” McIntire said.
