POLAND — Town Manager Matt Garside told Select Board members Tuesday night that construction bids for the Ricker Memorial Library expansion may be ready to go out by this fall.

If so, Garside said, a contractor could be chosen in December with construction beginning in March 2025.

In April of 2022, voters approved a 10-year $850,000 bond to expand the library. In addition, voters endorsed a withdrawal of $150,000 from the Stone Trust that would go toward the design costs.

Unanticipated problems due to the lingering effects of the pandemic put an economic strain to the project. Michel Giasson, the library expansion’s architect, told the Select Board in December of 2022 that the construction industry was like the “Wild West” due to the pandemic. Labor and scheduling, breakdowns in the material supply chain and unanticipated higher costs were being affected.

Giasson had hoped to get construction bids out in early 2023, but it didn’t happen. In January 2023, the Select Board learned that the bond would be applied for in August with the funds expected in November.

Giasson and Garside agreed that postponing the work will provide a number of advantages.

A fact sheet said a later date would coincide with the planned town park alongside the library. Garside said both projects have to be approved by the Planning Board with particular concern regarding stormwater runoff.

Other benefits include the ability to alert select contractors, offer on-site walk-throughs to potential bidders, allow more time for bidding and have more flexibility in the supply chain.

Other advantages could mean a more stable economic/construction environment and better prices.

In March 2023, still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, the Select Board learned that the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system costs associated with the expansion had risen dramatically. The board was told another $550,000 would need to be added to the $850,000 bond.

Voters turned down the additional money in a June 2023 referendum. In July, Garside told Select Board members that Giasson was devising changes to the original plans that will work with the funds available.

Later that year, Giasson told the board his alterations would not change the size of the library’s expansion or affect the intended larger children’s section.

Adjustments involved plumbing and electrical work, use of existing bookcases and furniture separate from bid work and combining outside work with the anticipated town park contract.

Giasson also noted that significant additional savings were realized by design revisions, such as reusing existing partitions and redesigning the windows.

Last month, the board learned that planned updates to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning at the library will only happen in the newly constructed areas.

The town is pursuing other funding sources, such as federal grants, in hopes of restoring some of the cutbacks to the original library plan.