Invermere council put its official stamp of approval on the Invermere Public Library’s inclusion in the new multi-use centre at the earliest possible date, during most the recent council meeting.

Council members passed a resolution at the Tuesday, October 13th council meeting that the library be included in the first phase of the centre; that the library be allocated 2,300 square feet (215 square metres) on the planned building’s plaza level; and that the library be responsible for all fitting-out and leasehold improvements to the space, such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical work.

“In a perfect world, hopefully all that finishing could be done while the centre is actually built, but that depends on funding,” said Invermere mayor Gerry Taft, speaking after the meeting.

During the same meeting, council also formally passed a resolution that the current library building be allocated to the Summit Youth Centre once the library has moved into the multi-use centre. The topic had been discussed during the most recent Committee of the Whole meeting (reported on in The Pioneer), and council was simply making official the recommendation that had come out of that committee meeting.

“It’s good,” said Taft, speaking on having both the new location of library and the new location of the youth centre officially sorted out. “It provides some certainty for the user groups and it will also help with fundraising, since it makes it more clear what we’re raising money for.”

District of Invermere staff will continue to meet with youth centre representatives in the coming months to figure out what upgrades and improvements need to be made to the current library building for the youth centre.

Taft expressed cautious optimism that construction of the new multi-use centre could begin in 2016. If that happens, it’s possible the building could be finished as early as fall 2017.

The user groups would then be able to move location by spring 2018.