North Huron council will begin to explore moving the Blyth Public Library to the second floor of the local Community Hall and Arena.
A report from Kelly Steiss, Director of Recreation and Children’s Services, noted that the second floor of the Blyth Community Hall and Arena is rarely rented out for big events anymore, and thus could serve as a home for the library to help reduce costs.
"I was following up on the recommendation of council in the Strategic Plan, about the relocation of the Blyth Library as a cost-saving measure," she said. "And so if you would like to proceed, I would certainly look at next steps as having conversations with some of those users to talk about if we had a meeting room upstairs, what size would you need to accommodate?"
Currently, the Blyth Library operates out of a leased space, which costs the Township $18,000 annually.
However, Councillor Mitch Wright was reluctant to give up a community gathering space.
"I don't think 100 per cent of its drop in usage is just because there's other facilities around that can be used," he said. "I think it's because no money has been spent on it... I'd hate to see this not be a gathering space for Blyth, because I don't know if there's another facility in town that does the same thing as what this does."
Wright amended the motion, asking staff to also explore refurbishing the second floor of the Community Hall.
About $30,000 for a building assessment and design work will be incorporated into next year's draft budget.