New Big Sandy library close to construction

A project years in the making is close to fruition, with the local committee working to build a new branch of the Chouteau County Library in Big Sandy.

Marla Ray, member of the local committee, said Chouteau County Library Board Chair Ron Young approved May 12 having the architect advertise bids for construction.

Ray said the committee hoped to start construction by the Big Sandy Homecoming, set for June 19-21, but due to some work still to be completed on mechanical and engineering plans, that start date probably will be in mid-July.

Instead, the committee is working on several fundraisers to raise the final $80,000 of the $500,000 goal, planning to finish with a "Money Mile" event during Homecoming. Ray said the distance between the F. E. Miley Elementary School and Big Sandy High School is about one mile. As two $1 bills equals one foot, the goal is for enough people to donate dollars to pave the walk from school to school, with the new library in the middle.

The committee also is holding a raffle in conjunction with Friends of the Library, at $1 a ticket or 6 for $5.

The group will display a large rendering of the new library building on site during Homecoming, as well as a physical model, so people can stop by and look at the plans, she said.

Ray said she and fellow committee members Ann Quinn, Dee Pribyl and Ladene Mangold appreciate all who have contributed financially to this huge project.

"Debra Clark has procured numerous grants, several Big Sandy organizations and businesses have given large amounts, many former Pioneers have answered our request in the Homecoming letter for donations, and many current residents have been generous," she said in a press release. "We've even had strangers who are simply interested in libraries send donations."

Work has been ongoing at the site of the new library, the former Kaste Department Store, which was donated to the county in 2007 by Janis Kaste Kaiser to be used for the location of a new library.

A group gathered last summer in a combined effort to tear down the department store in conjunction with helping local rancher Russ Allderdice, who had volunteered to tear down the building until he was severely injured in an ATV rollover.

Ray said preparation work has continued, with Greg Ramsey removing the cement foundations that were not deemed useable by the project's engineers, and county employees backfilling the necessary area at the front end making the site ready.

She said the plans are expected to be completed by the end of May, which then will allow Keith Ballantyne of Fort Benton, architect and project overseer, to call for bids. That process will take another three weeks, followed by roughly two more weeks of preparation to start, Ray said.

She said Ballantyne expects the construction to take about nine months, so the new library should be open by next spring.