Town of Vernon Officially Takes Over Rockville Public Library

VERNON, CT — The Rockville Public Library officially became a of Town of Vernon department on Monday after a nearly a year of preparations and negotiations.

Mayor Daniel Champagne and Thomasina Clemons, the president of the Rockville Public Library Board of Trustees, met at the library on Union Street to transfer the deed.

The plan was first considered last August and announced in March and needed the approval of the Vernon Town Council, the Vernon Planning and Zoning commission and the state attorney general's office. Legal wranglings took about six months, Champagne said.

"This was about saving the library," Champagne said before the closing. "This is the library. Every town has to have a library and this is the best course to keep this building a public library forever."

The town budgeted about $460,000 for the library as part of the past fiscal year's budget and another $420,000 was added for the current fiscal year.

The library's endowment totals about $1 million, Champagne said. It will be maintained and invested for capital expenses, the mayor said.

The library will operate as a town department with an advisory board that answers to the council. The nonprofit status will be maintained by a foundation with 5 percent of the endowment at its disposal, he said. The foundation will handle all development and fund-raising efforts, Champagne said in March.

All library employees — about 30 and mostly part-time — will be classified as temporary employees for 120 days while the logistics of operating the library are worked out.

"It's a new town department and it's a big, new town department," Champagne said. "It's going to take some time."

The Rockville Public Library was founded in 1893 and was operated as a nonprofit association that was partially funded by the town and endowed by the family of George Maxwell, a former local textile manufacturer. The library is located across from the old main Maxwell mansion at 52 Union St. in the Rockville section of Vernon. It was part of the Maxwell compound at the height of the textile mill days.

The building carries a value of about $5 million for insurance purposes and the contents about $4 million, Vernon Town Administrator Michael Purcaro said.

Photo Credit: Chris Dehnel