Vaughan Public Libraries’ Building Projects blog presents a special guest post by Michael McKenzie, Chair, Vaughan Public Library Board.

In the 2011 budget deliberations, Vaughan Public Libraries was awarded funds to construct a library as an addition to the North Thornhill Community Centre. The Request for Proposal (RFP) was released November 2011 inviting bids from architect contractor teams to design and build this library. Bids from ten proponents were evaluated and three were identified and prequalified to advance to stage two of the competition. All three submitted proposals that far exceeded the approved budget and in July 2012, stage two of the RFP competition was cancelled.

The scope of the project was then modified and the three prequalified bidders were invited to submit revised proposals to a new RFP. Only two of the three prequalified bidders submitted proposals. Unfortunately, neither were compliant, and the bidding process was cancelled. What this all means is that the building of a library in the North Thornhill Community Centre has been delayed from the original estimates we provided.

On behalf of the VPL Board I would like to apologize to the residents of Vaughan for the delay. The Board remains committed to building a library in the North Thornhill Community Centre and ensuring we are responsible in the spending of the resources we have been entrusted with. We will continue to work with the City to move the development of the North Thornhill Library forward and to provide the Citizens of Vaughan with many more welcoming destinations that educate, excite and empower our community.