DEPAUVILLE — The grand reopening of Depauville Free Library will be at 7 p.m. today at the library on County Route 179.

Connie L. Haver, Depauville librarian, said refreshments and cake will be served at the conclusion of the Clayton Town Council meeting held at the small hamlet's library once a year. The town board meeting begins at 5 p.m.

Mrs. Haver said the library has been closed since June 2007 for renovations and reopened this June but has not had a formal reopening.

Initially, the renovation project was expected to be completed last November, but work was delayed after an electrical lighting fixture sparked a fire Sept. 21 causing structural damage to the building and ruining all of the books.

After months of repair since January, the library walls have been repainted, new carpeting and shelves are in and the whole building has been rewired. Also, there are new handicapped-accessible bathrooms.

"It was a slow process," Mrs. Haver said.

She said without the help of Keith D. Wood, director of the Clayton Recreation Park and the library's building administrator, she would not have known what to do after the fire destroyed the library.

"He brought his crew in here so we could actually start over," she said.

The town of Clayton, which owns the building, hired Continental Construction Co., Gouverneur, for the building renovation; Hyde-Stone, Watertown, for the mechanical system work and Nytric Electrical Contractors, Watertown, for the rewiring. Insurance covered 80 percent of about $100,000 the town spent in repairs.

Books were donated by area libraries through the North Country Library System.