Things are looking brighter at the Chilton-Clanton Public Library after the Chilton County Commission completed recent renovations to the library’s conference room.

The 660-square-feet room now has beige carpet and cream-colored walls providing enhancements to the overall look of the library.

Chilton-Clanton Library director Kelly Easterling said the new renovations completed last week by contractors assigned to do the work by the commission have improved the appearance of the room.

“I am excited because it just makes everything look better,” Easterling said. “We have a lot of things going on in this room and with these new renovations it will just enhance everything about this room.”

When the library was built in 1967, Easterling said the conference room was decorated with dark green carpet and dark wood paneling that often made the room appear small and dimly lit.

Water damage to parts of the interior at the library happened several years ago, and significant water damage occurred in the summer of 2012 as a new roof was being installed.

Easterling said work was being done to repair the roof that already had several major leaks when a rainstorm came and “dumped” heavy rain on top of the work being done on the roof.

The back corner in the conference room at the library had a pre-existing leak for many years and part of the roof was rotten where it had leaked for so long.

When the heavy rainstorm in 2012 came and poured water through the pre-existing leak in the conference room, water poured inside behind the paneled walls as well as on the carpet.

There was a fear that mold might have grown behind some of the paneling due to the paneling buckling in some places due to the water damage.

The commission approved during the June 24 commission meeting to give $4,659 for the water damage repairs at the library.

Commission Chairman Allen Caton told commissioners during the June 24 meeting that he and County Maintenance Supervisor Pete Davenport went to the library on June 20 to survey the water damage and determine what work needed to be done.

Caton proposed a price to fix the damaged wall in the conference room of $4,659 with Chilton Supply and Drywall.

Caton told commissioners during the meeting that the work would be to take the paneling down in one section, check for growth behind it and then cover that wall with the water damage with drywall.

Easterling said on Thursday that after the contractors came last week, no mold was found behind the wall.

“We were really relieved because I think that was something we were concerned about,” Easterling said. “We have so many different activities in the conference room and we were worried there might have been some mold growing so it was great to hear there wasn’t any.”

With the new repairs to the walls inside the room and the carpet paid for by the library, Easterling is busy compiling plans for new activities to be held at the library.

“I hope to get some surround sound speakers, a Blu-ray player and an overhead projector,” Easterling said.

Easterling said he has recently acquired a license to show movies and plans to host family “movie nights” at the library in the newly renovated conference room.

The Chilton-Clanton Public Library is ranked as the 24th largest public library in Alabama out of 225 and Easterling said the number of visitors to the library has increased within the last couple of years.

A “traffic” counter in the front of the library tracks all incoming visitors, and staff members write down the total of the traffic at the end of each day.

Toward the end of each month, Easterling said the numbers are added, they subtract 100 for staff workers and get an estimate of how many people have visited the library each month.

The library had 55,000 patrons visit for the 2012-2013 year.

Easterling attributes some of the recent growth in visitors to the Internet that can be accessed at the eight public computers.

The library also has free wireless Internet.

“I think another reason more people are coming to the library is they can check out a book for free,” Easterling said. “After the recession, books became expensive and people would rather come check out a free book as opposed to paying $30 for one. Another popular item here is our movie section, and I think having all of those things makes our library a place people enjoy visiting.”