Belleville Area District Library negotiates with contractor on boiler cost

Building committee chairperson Joy Cichewicz gave a report on the
negotiations with contractors who designed and put the boilers into the new $14 million library. Everyone agrees that the boilers are too small.
At the Sept. 8 RingCentral Teleconference meeting of the Belleville Area District Library Board, Cichewicz said when the building plans were downsized, SES Engineers drew the new plans, but the boilers were too small and SES realized they undersized it.
SES checked its liability insurance and found it had a deductible of $75,000 and the problem was less than that. She said they had to pay but wanted a deal that wouldn’t be that much for them.
She said they are agreeing they are responsible and aren’t trying to get out of it.
Cichewicz said they have had three virtual meetings between the committee and the contractors and builder.
At the last meeting, she said the committee voted to go with option 1, which is to add a third boiler, which is the most cost-effective.
Another option to require them to put in the two large boilers originally planned, would cost the library $25,000 more because of all the replumbing necessary.
SES offered to pay $17,500, which is 40% of the cost and Lawn Mechanical would probably reimburse $15,000, with the library paying the rest of the $43,700 estimated total.
Mary Jane Dawson said when SES came up with its offer, John Juriga said that wasn’t enough, she said of the meeting.
“It will be some cost on us, but it will be a better system,” said Library Director Mary Jane Suchy.
Cichewicz said boilers have a lifespan of 25 years and so it will cost the library a little bit more in maintenance over the years.
She said there would be no downtime and the library would have heat through the process of updating the system.
In another matter, Cichewicz said Spicer Engineers contacted the buildings asking
the library to pay for the electricity the Downtown Development Authority wanted to light the trees on Fourth Street and, “We said no.”
She said DTE will move two poles into the new parking lot’s traffic islands, instead of to the opposite side of the alley as originally envisioned. The storm water retention system was repositioned to work around the DTE pole relocation project. Cichewicz said they want to make sure DTE doesn’t use guy wires. She said they will be longer poles, planted deeper.
Cichewicz said it was found the stained glass piece in the new library is not well-enough lit, so John Juriga’s son, Justin, will be working on the lighting. Juriga said Justin is president of a lighting company, but is very busy in September.
Cichewicz the stained glass has to have diffused lighting.
She also reported Blue Ribbon would be doing the paving of the parking lot starting Oct. 1.
In other business at the Sept. 8 meeting, the board:
• Approved the district library tax levy approved by voters on Nov. 2, 2010 for financial operating. It originally was 7/10 of a mill, but has been reduced by Headlee to 6.896/10 of a mill. It will bring in $1,088,842 from the December 2020 tax bill and this tax will continue to be on tax bills in Belleville, Van Buren and Sumpter until Jan. 1, 2022;
• Approved the district library tax levy approved by voters on Nov. 8, 2016 for financial operation of the library. It originally was 7.5/10 of a mill but was reduced by Headlee to 7.388/10 of a mill. It will bring in $1,166.526 from the December 2020 tax bill and this tax will continue to be on tax bills in Belleville, Van Buren, and Sumpter until Jan. 1, 2037;
• Approved the district library tax levy approved by voters on Nov. 8, 2016 to pay for a 20-year, general obligation bond for not more than $14 million to construct and equip a new library, equip a satellite in an existing building, and other purposes. To make bond payments for 2020, the District Library Board determined a levy of 6.2/10 of a mill shall be placed on the Dec. 1, 2020 tax bill. It will bring in $979,947;
• Heard Library Director Suchy report the Grab and Go service continues on the first floor and in the children’s room and they are averaging about 70-80 patrons a day. Curbside pickup continues to be available. She said staff is preparing for the second phase of Grab and Go which will reopen the second floor for browsing and computer use. Three, 15-minute express computers will be available and three computers by appointment only will be available for one-hour sessions. She said three computers will be available at the branch in Sumpter, which will be open soon, and branch hours tentatively will be set for Mondays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursday from 3 to 8 p.m. Evening hours will be added at the main library and the tentative schedule will be Mondays and Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.;
• Heard Suchy report the library has purchased five wireless hotspots that will be available for checkout for three days by anyone with a library card. Cichewicz said this is a huge service the library can offer. Suchy said if this is popular, they will buy more; and
• Heard Juriga say he would like two staff members to become notaries so the library can offer that service without charge. He said, although he has been a volunteer commission member for more than 20 years in the city of Belleville, he still has to pay $5 to get notarized at city hall. He said people have been saying they are having trouble finding a notary.