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Le Roy school district facing unexpected expense of repairing Woodward Memorial Library elevator

By Howard B. Owens

The elevator at the Woodward Memorial Library in Le Roy is out of service, and the school district is expecting some costly repairs.

While the library operates on its own budget, the district owns the library building and is responsible for its maintenance.

Superintendent Merritt Holly gave the Board of Education a heads up at this past week's meeting and will come back at a future meeting with details on cost.

"Obviously, we will be out of compliance with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) if we don't do it," Holly said.

District Finance Director Brian Foeller explained that because the elevator is seldom used, the oil in the hydraulic system dries out.  If the elevator were used 100 times a day, everything would stay well lubricated, but with dry oil, metal rubs against metal and then shavings begin to impede movement.

The current elevator was installed in 1995 and is inspected annually -- also a significant expense -- but it hasn't been fully serviced before.

"So it comes down to -- we have to evaluate what's the most efficient way to get this done without having more issues with it but also knowing what the full cost is," Holly said.

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