Belleville Area District Library gets building budget back in line

The building committee, construction company, and architect worked together to cut from $250,000 to $300,000 from the construction budget of the new Belleville Area District Library.
And, there is about $200,000 more that can be shifted from the “Owner’s Other Costs” budget to the construction budget, due to the savings the library saw from the premium it received when the bonds were sold.
“Those two things got us to where we are now,” said board member Joy Cichewicz, chairman of the library’s building committee, noting the construction budget for the $10 million library is now back in line, after announcement in August of a possibility of being $500,000 over budget.
“We have really whittled down the difference … and can achieve the ends with a less severe cut,” said Sharon Peters, board chairwoman, at the board’s regular meeting on Oct. 9.
“We have been able to save some of the things we wanted,” Peters continued. “We seem to be filling the shortfall.”
She said it’s been fun and a lot of hard work and, “Some of the pain has started to subside.”
Architect Dan Whisler said some of the reductions don’t affect the quality, longevity or life cycle of the building.
Peters said have been a lot of hours spent on reducing the cost and a lot of hard work.
Board member John Juriga said he had dinner with Kim Tindall, who works at city hall, and she told him the building permit is on the counter there and all the library has to do is pay $90,000 and pick it up.
Whisler said Matt Ratzow of O’Neal Construction will pick it up and Peters said the library has its money to pay the City of Belleville.
Library Director Mary Jo Suchy said she is pleased to announce that the library has received an anonymous donation of $85,000 which the donor has earmarked for the addition of vegetative roofs. Such roofs were discussed during planning, but cut from the plans because of the cost.
Whisler said that the majority of the concrete foundation has been put in, along with footings and they have been bringing the grade up inside the perimeter, then will dig out for the interior footing. Then there will be work on waterproofing and concrete block foundation walls.
“The perimeter foundation seems to be going well and is complete,” Whisler said.
“I’m amazed at the footprint,” Juriga said. “Now you can tell the size.”
Whisler pointed out you can see the elevator pit and Mary Jane Dawson noted you can see the entrance, as well.
Whisler said there have been shop drawings for fabrication of the steel and a rolling kind of process. He said steel is slated to be on site Nov. 19, but not all of it will come at one time because there is no place to store it.
He said the west half of the first floor, along Roys Street, will get the beams first and the second phase will be the second floor there. Then, phase three is the east half of the first floor, followed by the east half of the second floor.
“There’s not a lot of places to store it, so the crane will be on site and the steel beams will be erected as they are delivered,” Whisler said.
He said the waterproofing and the masons will do their work before the steel is set. Also, the perimeter wall and two stair towers will be in place before the steel is erected.
Cichewicz said Whisler has been looking at the library’s part of renovations to the Sumpter building for a library facility. Peters added that the library’s attorney has been working with the Sumpter attorney on the lease for the hexagon building.
“We refined our budget based on what they said,” Whisler said, referring to Sumpter’s engineers. “We need to fine-tune our budget. We had gone line item by item. We need another meeting.”
“I don’t think we sacrificed quality at all,” Cichewicz said. “It was aesthetics and now we can proceed.”
The library facility in Sumpter was originally scheduled to open in October, but that has been delayed.
In a related subject, Peters said the Art Committee/Ad Hoc Funds has met twice since the board’s last meeting and it is making some progress with a Capital Project Fund.
Peters said they went to the Rotary’s Cozadd Foundation meeting and got a check for $50,000 and an anonymous donor gave money for a vegetative roof. The Friends group is committing funds and the Jahr family is donating. She said all this adds up to $180,000.
“We are continuing to seek private funds and we are planning an event,” Peters said, noting it will be held before the cornerstone is laid.
The Legacy @ Your Library event will be held Thursday, Nov. 15, at Wayne County Community College, with a social time starting at 6 p.m.
She said they will ask for contributions. Donors can get names for rooms, computer stations, trees, benches.
The larger donations can be for whole areas of the library. There are set prices set on square footage.
She said they showed a virtual tour of the new library last year at the Friends of the Library meeting and they also will give the virtual tour at the Legacy meeting at about 7 p.m. Peters noted the virtual tour is “quite amazing.”
She said at the gathering donors will be acknowledged.
“We will send invitations and extend invitations to the public interested in donating,” Peters said. She said there will be a donor wall in the library.
“We want the community to be involved, and see names of their neighbors reflected in the library,” she said.
“The footprint is impressive,” said Juriga, adding that people will be interested in donating because they can see the library being built.
Peters said if possible donors can’t come on the 15th, they can still work with them.
“I feel we’re offering something important,” Peters said.
She said people can write checks anytime made out to the library, with Capital Project Fund on the memo line.
In other business in the Oct. 9 hour-long meeting, the board:
• Heard Peters say that Captain Nemo’s restaurant, which is located at the opening of the alley that is now the main access to the current library, said it has no problem with the traffic to the library now, but it worries about snow removal by the city. She said they will talk to the city about this. Juriga pointed out the DPW clears city streets first after snowfalls, with the alleys being last on the list for attention;
• Heard Valerie Bonner, executive director of SOOAR substance abuse prevention agency, offer a free workshop on substance abuse. She said her program is funded by Wayne Detroit Mental Health, so it would be at no cost to them to host a program;
• Heard Juriga say that soothsayers predict the first snowfall for Nov. 22. He also said he is hosting a fund raiser for State Rep. Kristy Pagan in his yard on Oct. 13;
• Heard Peters say that Carmen Sovall, owner of Crafted Handmade, told her she is taking advantage of the new library by moving her business to Main Street; and
• Heard Suchy say the low flush problems in the library’s original 1953 bathrooms could not be resolved, and new toilets have been installed. She also reported additional lighting for the temporary parking lot and Charles Street has been installed.