District Library Board hears report on new date for elegant donor party

The elegant party to honor those who donated extra funds to the construction of the Belleville Area District Library has been postponed until April 29, to allow time for all the donor signs to be put in place throughout the library.
This was part of the report given by Alma Hughes-Grubbs, chairperson of the library board’s marketing committee, at the library board’s regular Feb. 8 meeting. She said the committee met on Jan. 19 and determined the party should be postponed from the original March 11 date to April 29.
The public, grand opening stays on the previously approved April 9 date. She said the committee will meet again on Feb. 9 to work on the details for both the private donor party and the public grand opening. She said artist Michele Montour will bring the proposed special invitations for the donor party.
“We are putting together the activities,” she said, noting Mary Jane Dawson is checking on the catering and bartender for the donor party. She said they are also considering the time capsule and what to put in it.
Hughes-Grubbs said they are planning to have young people take part in the grand opening and there will be tours. There will be a video showing construction of the building.
John Juriga said they will have musician Paul Keller playing.
“We’re in the home stretch to have it all come together,” said library chairperson Sharon Peters.
In other business at the 55-minute meeting:
• Heard a report on the building committee meeting, with Juriga saying that humidity is 35% in the building now because the air quality project is done. Library Director Mary Jo Suchy said they have found that DTE needs to get more gas to the building. Juriga said they are flushing the hot water heater to see if that will stop the clogging of the dishwasher. He also said the heated floors are on and he got on the floor “with the little buckeroos” to test it. Juriga said the staff had sprayed disinfectants on computers which got on the cherry wood and workers are coming out to redo the wood finish. He said, “Now we know that the virus is airborne and not a touch thing.” Suchy said, “We’re at a place we can ease up”;
• Heard Suchy say they are putting alarms on the emergency exits and there was an issue with the furnace the afternoon of Feb. 3. They found it was not a software problem, but it was clogged with snow, a physical problem;
• Heard Treasurer Tanya Stoudemire remind them that they agreed to put the “renewal” of the library millage on the primary election ballot in August, so they will have to pass a motion on that at the March meeting. The board agreed if the millage doesn’t pass in August they will put it on the November ballot;
• Heard Juriga thank Weise for doing such a good job plowing the snow in the library parking lot. Dawson said she wishes the city would have done better plowing around the front of the library at the handicap ramp on Fourth Street, where the snow is piled up and she had to walk through it;
• Heard Barbara Miller comment on what great service she has had from staff on her visits to the library. She also said how nice it was to see all the meeting rooms being used at the library that evening. Suchy said she tallied it up and the library booked 60 different meetings of various kinds since September; and
• Heard Suchy say the library was closed Feb. 2 and 3, due to the winter storm warning. She said Belleville’s library was in good company with a significant number of libraries in Southeast Michigan also closed for the weather. She added, “It appears that our community hit its COVID peak on Jan. 17 at a seven-day average of 82 positive cases per day for Belleville, Sumpter, and Van Buren. We have continued to juggle staff due to COVID exposures and cases. I think we’re done.”