The Dickson County Library was closed on November 21st after a concrete panel fell off the back of the library, and after three and a half weeks, County Mayor Bob Rial announced on Thursday that the library will reopen on Monday.
"We've never really had any issues with the exterior of the building before, so this was quite the surprise," Rial said.
Due to the problem arising in the week leading into Thanksgiving, it took time for engineers to get out and examine the library, thus the delay in getting the library reopened.
"We could have done things faster, but we wanted to make sure things were done right, because safety is paramount," Rial explained.
Engineers find that while the inside of the building is structurally sound, as well as the entrances to the building, parts of the exterior of the building could be a cause for concern.
For that reason, the county has set up a temporary fence around the building to prevent anyone from getting to a place where part of the building could fall on them.
Built in 1974 and taken over by the county in 2001, Rial said that the county was planning on replacing the library in the coming years regardless of this issue, but the problems may speed up the process.
Rial has asked a special board to look at options for a county library moving forward, including options of building a new library to replace the current one, or even building satellite libraries to spread the resources throughout the county.
