Follow-up work on the construction of the new Babylon Village Library to correct some issues is still underway. The leaking windows and collapsing retaining wall located on the front terrace of the Babylon Village Public Library have been repaired, reports library director Marina Sullivan. In addition, the entire area of the flat terrace was reset. The work took place after months of discussion between the library board members, the original contractor, and the independent contractors the library hired to assess the problems.

Issues with the large window in the main reading room were noticed last summer and were corrected, according to Sullivan, however, this past February, that win- dow leaked again after heavy rains, as did the large picture window in the children's room. The problems worsened with the heavy rains in April.

The library board brought the leaking window problems to the attention of the original contractor L.D. Wenger of West Babylon, in the hopes that the firm would honor its work guarantee. However, it was not until the board presented L.D. Wenger with a construction report from an outside, independent contractor that the firm agreed to correct the problem at no charge.

This has not yet been the case with the masonry problems, said Sullivan. "The contractor doesn't feel he has a responsibility to fix the retaining wall," said Sullivan. "Because there is a liability issue with these loose bricks, we had to go ahead and repair the wall."

The root of the problem with the retaining wall was the absence of an appropriate footing running the length of the wall. When the workers who were hired by the library excavated the area in preparation for repair, they discovered that just a few running feet of the wall had foundation material underneath, according to Sullivan.

Sullivan says the board plans to confer with their attorneys regarding the original contractor's responsibility concerning this issue. The bill to repair the retaining wall was $19,800.

In every area of new construction there are always a few things to work out," said Mary Gallagher, library board president. "Ninety-nine percent of everything is great."