CAPE ELIZABETH – The Cape Elizabeth Town Council gave its first formal review Monday to a study group report that recommends reconstruction of Thomas Memorial Library, setting the stage for the creation of a building committee and the release of $340,810 in funding, preparatory to a $4 million bond proposal to go before voters in November 2014.

“It’s much better than the first attempt,” said Councilor Caitlin Jordan, referring to a $4 million overhaul plan rejected by voters a year ago by a 58 percent margin.

“That’s faint praise,” said Frank Governali, who served on the library planning committee, in what was his last meeting as a town councilor.

Also present at Monday’s workshop was Molly MacAuslan, who chaired the planning committee and won election Nov. 5 as Governali’s council replacement.

The planning report calls on the new library to dress out at roughly the same square footage as the current building, which is actually an amalgamation of old school buildings. The new library will utilize the old Pond Cove School, which fronts Scott Dyer Road. The former Spurwink School, which dates to 1849, will likely be used as a temporary library during construction, said MacAuslan, adding that the big question is what is to become of the building thereafter.

There have been some calls, including from Councilor Katharine Ray, to give that section of the current library to the Cape Elizabeth Historical Society, which currently has a home in the library, but is not expected to be included in its next evolution.

Also on Monday, the Town Council drafted goals for 2014, to be formally adopted at a January meeting. What to do with the Spurwink section of the library, as well as hammering out the exact nature of the relationship between the historical society and the town, are high on that list. Also on tap is a possible “naming opportunity” for the new library.

Currently, the library is named for William Widgery Thomas Jr. who bought the Spurwink School in 1917, four years after it closed to students, and in 1919 moved it to its original location on Bowery Beach Road, it having been relocated in 1877 to a spot on Fowler Road. With the building back at its original home, Thomas donated it to the town in 1919 for use as a library. The building was moved it its present site in 1944, where it became the founding building block for the library as it now stands. Still, despite the late Thomas’ gift, he’s not currently generating any revenue for the library, and town officials generally seem to agree that his name can be stricken and replaced with that of someone else willing to pay for the privilege.

Still, before a new name can be chosen, the council will have other preliminary work to get done at its Dec. 9 meeting.

First on the list is creation of the library building committee, to be comprised of five members, including two town councilors, one library trustee, one school board member (deemed a necessity given the library’s proximity to town schools) and a member of the public “with knowledge of the library project” selected by Town Council Chairwoman Jessica Sullivan.

Town Manager Michael McGovern said Monday that the council “may be ready” by Dec. 9 to name members to the committee at the moment of its creation.

According to MacAuslan, if the school board chooses not to name one of its number to the committee, a second member of the public will be chosen. It is expected that the committee will have a full set of design plans ready for the Town Council to consider by the end of July 2014. According to Town Clerk Debra Lane, the council will need to act by early September in order to get an bond issue on the November referendum, given the need to have absentee ballots ready 45-days before the vote.

Also to be decided Dec. 9 is town funding for the library project’s “pre-bid costs.” The idea is to bring to voters a set of plans complete enough that they can be immediately sent out to builders, unlike the 2012 plans voters were asked to weigh in on. One reason the previous bond failed, suggested Sullivan, is that “people didn’t really know what they were voting on.”

While the Nov. 2014 bond proposal is expected to be $4 million, actual construction costs are pegged at $3.4 million. Of that, $240,810 is expected to be needed beforehand for architectural and engineering fees, hazardous materials mitigation, legal costs, and work needed to make the Spurwink School stand in as a temporary library.

According to McGovern, the expectation is that these costs will be funded partly ($100,000) from an existing infrastructure improvement account now holding $191,176, and partly ($240,810) from the town’s $3.1 million undesignated surplus account. That money, he said, would be paid back to the two accounts once the bond is approved.

However, there is an open question of what happens if voters once again reject a library bond.

“That’s a lot of money, if that happens,” said Jordan.