Escambia County Takes Another Step Toward Molino Library

June 9, 2011

Escambia County has taken another step forward of the renovation of the old Molino School into a community center, museum and library.

The project’s original plans called for a library, complete with the usual shelves of books, children’s areas and computer terminals. But without funding to operate its daily operations and employee salaries, library plans were shelved. The county needed thousands more to complete building renovations for a library, including the addition of more structural supports under the building’s 72-year old floor to accommodate thousands of pounds of books.

AAfter $700,000 in local option sales tax (LOST) funds were reprioritized at the request of County Administrator Randy Oliver, an additional $1.8 million was funneled to the project to once again include a library.

Now, Escambia County has officially issued a change order to their contract with DAG Architects, Inc. to included the library in their plans. That brings the county’s total contract with DAG for architectural and engineering fees to $356,130. The fees include $113,135 to design a new building on the Highway 95A property to house offices for both the tax collector and property appraiser.

Pictured above: The old Molino School. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.

Comments

8 Responses to “Escambia County Takes Another Step Toward Molino Library”

  1. billy on June 24th, 2011 12:33 am

    Hey Rocket…….its on the north side ot the street…….would be an even number address. It looks like woods…….it a few doors to the east from jahaza road ….going toward the park/boat ramp on your left. If you look very closely into the tops of the trees you will see the roof………right about 6280 Fairground Road. Fairground Road was originally Main Street. This is the very first Molino school I believe. This was before the school that was located at Hariston Street and Jacobi Road.

  2. Rocket on June 12th, 2011 10:13 am

    I never knew there was an older school on fairground Rd. Where exactly is that located on Fairground Rd.?

  3. billy on June 10th, 2011 8:29 pm

    I sure love that old building. But I dont see why we cant tour the older school on Fairground Road. Its much older.

  4. Trish on June 10th, 2011 1:40 pm

    It takes a special floor to hold that many bookshelves with books. The book case in my hall (normal 5 shelf from Wal Mart) can not even be moved without removing the books. So take that and multiply by thousands of pounds. At first I did not agree with the new buildings but with a little thought it made sense. Why pay rent when you own property! Along with long term savings it provides less travel for the people in the north end of the county when they have to go to these places. As far as putting them in the same building as the library…….look at the floor plans, we want meeting rooms, we want a museum, we want the auditorium. The existing rooms were small classrooms and will not accommodate much of an office area. So where in that building would you put the other county offices?

  5. Kay on June 10th, 2011 12:42 pm

    Chichi

    I guess you missed previous discussions about the library. The floors in this
    school will not hold the weight of books, but I also don’t see why they have
    to build a new building for the other two offices. I don’t see why they
    don’t rebuild the library part and just use the rest with updates to wiring and some
    rearranging of the rooms. I would think a lot of money could be saved.
    Spend, spend, spend, lay-off, lay-off, lay-off, tax, tax, tax, getting real
    tired of hearing how much they are spending and how many people they
    are laying off, and watching the people go down the drain all over this
    country.

  6. Suzanne on June 10th, 2011 12:39 am

    Thanks goodness that we in this end of the county will have some money spent on our local Molino community. A library and community center is very much needed. How about also putting in a decent playground and refurbishing/improving the clay track and basketball courts behind the school to encourage our children and families to exercise and become healthier? Rural communities rarely have somewhere they can walk/exercise safely. Just an encouraging thought!

  7. chichi on June 9th, 2011 11:40 pm

    why design a new building there is room for them in the existing bldg

  8. MM on June 9th, 2011 4:26 pm

    Yes, sales tax money is “LOST” – how fitting.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News