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Show " County Library To Seek Funds -"jTOM BLSSELBERG North County Editor FARMINGTON -- Up to $300 000 in federal funds could be available for library construction, con-struction, soon, and the Davis County Library Board has its eves on that for possible help i building a Layton headquarters. headquar-ters. LIBRARY Director Jeanne Layton said that amount may be allocated shortly thanks to passage of Congress' Jobs Bill and indicated she's already expressed ex-pressed interest to Russell Davis, state library director in Salt Lake City. Board Chairman Evan Whitesides, himself a Layton resident, said it would be better bet-ter to start construction with federal fund assistance this vearand only complete a shell, for instance, that wait until the county can allocate funds. The soonest that will be possible is next year with fund collection not feasible until November, 1984. J , IT'S ESTIMATED a new i headquarters facility would cost about $1.5 million for the actual construction and S500.0O0 for furnishings. Plans were drawn up about four years ago for a Layton head-quarters head-quarters and the city agreed to : provide land in the Commons . ) Park area of the corner of Wasatch and Hawthorne ' i Drives. i Architect Robert Dewey of j i Bountiful, commissioned to j prepare the original drawings, jS is still interested, Mr. White- sides said, having contacted the chairman after an article outlining future long-range plans appeared in the newspaper. news-paper. MS. LAYTON said previous federal funding awards were based on unemployment and population, adding where por-jects por-jects are already in the planning plan-ning stages, land previously conmitted and plans drawn up, it should have more chance for acceptance than either one not that far in the planning or already under construction. Mr. Davis indicated "timing of the building would be crucial," cru-cial," Ms. Layton continued, noting he also stressed federal officials want to "get the money out, circulating." MR. WHITESIDES said he's been approached by "two-three people from Layton City" including Councilman Coun-cilman Bob Stevenson, placed over library concerns, Councilman Coun-cilman Golden Sill and City ' Treasurer Randall Heaps and he said "there seems to be a consensus that there's high probability Layton wants to return to the system." Those city coffers should have about $300,000 saved and earmarked for library use that could be matched with the up-to up-to $300,000 in federal funds. THE BOARD chairman speculated spe-culated that with the $600,000 plus a one or one and one-half mill construction levy, the facility could be built in one or two years, the levy dropped and library service continued at or near the existing 2.12 level to operate the new library along with the three existing facilities. Com. Glen Saunders said the commissioners "would not want to get into the stance of making a commitment and then see the economy go sour again." Other "mandated service ser-vice areas" such as public service ser-vice are also in need of added funding, such as the jail, due to new legislation recently passed. "IF WE could have some assurances Congress won't go back on its free-spending mood and we (should) have economic recovery, then I think we can sit down and discuss dis-cuss it. I think when we have an idea of the federal budget, and it passes, and if it looks favorable, then we can move." "They urged us not to do anything long-term without Layton," Mr. Whitesides said of his talks with city officials. He referred to a survey that Mr. Heaps said showed 53 percent per-cent of the county's population is now in Layton or north. "That end of the county has (the) population growth." AND COM. Saunders emphasized the population center is now in south Layton, not north Centerville as some think, although it was located there in 1970. "There's a lot of people who think Farmington is the center geographically of the county. Second North in Kaysville is actually the center for roads and transportation," he continued, con-tinued, noting the north has the land area for growth to continue. |