Belleville Area District Library to open on Sundays in September

When the Belleville Area District Library Board approved it 2022-23 budget at its June 14 regular meeting, it also approved being able to have the library open on Sunday afternoons from 1 to 5 p.m. starting in September and going throughout the year.
Library Director Mary Jo Suchy said if all goes well with the library’s upcoming millage, plans are under way to open on Sundays and earlier during the rest of the week.
She said she is looking at being able to open the library at 9 or 9:30 a.m. during the week, instead of 10 a.m., but first she has to make sure they have enough people to cover the shifts. The employees have been included in the new budget.
She said there will be no programs on Sunday to start, “But, never say never.”
Board member John Juriga they probably wouldn’t let religious groups meet there on Sundays for church services and Director Suchy said there is no policy against that.
After a public hearing on the 2022-23 budget, the board approved the new budget and then approved the 2021-22 amended budget.
The 2022-23 budget has $2,382,800 in revenues, $2,276,400 in expenditures and a fund balance of $2,948,919 at the end of June 2023.
The board also approved the fund balance allocation of $1,040,000 from the old budget to the new budget as required by GASB 54.
In other business at the regular one-hour-and-14-minute June 14 meeting the board:
• Approved a short-term disability plan to bridge the gap for employees between the regular sick leave and long-term disability coverage. Suchy said the price is $226 per month total for the 11 full-time employees on staff and the budget doesn’t need to be changed. “This board is concerned with properly supporting our employees,” said board chairperson Sharon Peters;
• Heard Joy Cichewicz report on the building committee, which discussed again the water that stands outside the meeting room door after a big rain. They talked of creating saw cuts in the cement, but the builder said saw cuts wouldn’t work and it would destroy the beautiful concrete. He said they could remove some concrete and install a drain, but that is costly. He said five seconds of sweeping the water out would do the same thing. He called it “intensive maintenance.” The problem is not so much the water in the summer, but it’s icy water in the winter. Or, that door could not be used in the winter. They will consider the issue further;
• Heard Cichewicz say that one of the lights that points up at the flag is crackled and they don’t make that light any more. They might replace that with something similar. Also, the humidification program is in place, but they need cold weather to really know if the humidification works. Also, the building project had been extended because of COVID so they are considering whether the architect and others need to extend their insurance. Mary Jane Dawson said they also discussed the repair of the radiant flooring where parts are too hot, but they can’t test it when it’s too hot outdoors;
• Was presented with a copy of the information that was approved by the attorney to be suitable to send out to alert voters to the millage proposed to be restored on the Aug. 2 ballot. The millage is 46% of the total operating budget;
• Heard Cichewicz, who is a library director in Ypsilanti, ask if people are coming in to take pictures and videos of the library staff because that is happening in some libraries and the staff over-reacts and throws them out and then the library is cast as an unfriendly place. Suchy said people can come in and take pictures of the staff, but not private citizens using the library without their permission;
• Heard Cichewicz say people go to church, to lunch and then to the library on a Sunday. She predicted Sunday hours will be used hugely, especially during the school year;
• Heard Dawson say $55,000 was raised at the Belleville Yacht Club on June 10 at the benefit party to gather funds for the Mathis family so they can seek alternative treatment elsewhere for Harper’s brain tumor. She said it was good to see Harper dancing and having a fun time with her friends. She said courtesy of the New York City Police Department there will be a place for Justin to park the family vehicle during their time in New York;
• Heard John Juriga say the library does not advertise itself as a cooling station, but it should. People are welcome to come into the air-conditioned building and can sit down and read the newspapers or books and stay cool;
• Heard board president Sharon Peters say she had something for “show and tell.” She said part of the previous week she was in New Haven, Conn., with her granddaughter. She said her son works for the Audubon Society and there was an event called “Pollinator Gardens” at the New Haven Free Public Library and Peters attended with her granddaughter. There was a presentation on their seed library, which is being considered for the Belleville library. Peters said she told them of the library here that has living roofs, beekeeping on the roof, bioswale, and an annual plant swap. “They had never heard of Belleville, but now they have,” she said;
• Heard Director Suchy announce the Library Network has added $121,000 worth of new ebooks and audiobooks to the Belleville library’s Download Destination collection, thanks to a MI-83 grant administered by the Lakeland Library Cooperative and the Michigan Library Cooperative. The MI-83 Digital Library Connection is funded by an ARPA grant, provided in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library of Michigan, an agency of the Michigan Department of Education. This is at no cost to the Belleville library; and
• Heard Suchy also announce that the COVID community levels continue high in Wayne County and two more staff members tested positive for COVID in the past few weeks.