Dear Sir:
In The Terrace Standard on Wednesday, January 7 Claudette Sandecki’s weekly opinion piece, Through Bifocals, titled “The Act of Vandalism We Keep Paying For” set to outline that the tax payers of Terrace should be horrified by the library having to pay an exorbitant heating bill (with tax payers dollars) due to a prior instance of vandalism to the door as well as the City of Terrace having to pay staff time to fix the door periodically (with taxpayers dollars).
While some of the things mentioned in her article are true there are a few things that need to be stated and clarified.
It is true that the door has had some issues in closing properly and thus was being left open. However, it has never been for a large extended period of time as Sandecki states “the doors had been constantly open that way for several days…” If at all, it has only ever been for a few hours.
When this problem arose, the city staff, which are always quick to respond to our needs in times of emergency, came to fix the door. With the exception of one particular instance, over the holidays, the door has only needed its track cleaned as it is the time of year where dirt, salt, and other debris find itself getting lodged and slowing or stopping the door.
The one exception, during the holidays, was due to the door opening and closing too fast and thus jammed itself open. The city staff member came on the weekend during holiday hours (when he was actually on vacation) to fix the door so it would close for the night keeping the library and art gallery safe from any potential harm.
The beginning of the next work week, Monday, the All West Glass automatic door repair staff came and inspected the door and found out that the door needed a new part, which has since been ordered.
The City of Terrace has had a great history of meeting the library’s needs and this is seen on a regular basis when we need something fixed, our walkways cleared, our grounds tended to, or in partnering together on an initiative to name a few.
I know Claudette Sandecki is only looking out for the library and the taxpayer, however, I felt it needed to be clarified that the door was not open for several days on end and the city was more than diligent in this instance.
David Tremblay, MISt
Head Librarian,
Terrace Public Library,
Terrace, B.C.
