District Library to ask for 0.75 mill increase

At the May 10 regular meeting of the Belleville Area District Library Board, the board voted unanimously to seek 0.75 mill in additional tax to build a new library.
This will be put on the Nov. 8 General Election ballot. In 2014, voters turned down a proposal for a $19 million bond issue and 1 mill for 20 years for operating funds for a lakeside library on the DNR property in Van Buren Township.
This scaled-down library proposal is to build in downtown Belleville, next to the present library site, which will then be razed. The bond is expected to be for $14 million.
At its May 10 meeting, the board also unanimously approved an agreement with the City of Belleville addressing land use and parking to make way for a new library building in the middle of Fourth Street at Charles.
The agreement was expected to be on the city council agenda for its consideration on May 16.
The agreement states that the library will purchase the parcel next door at 360 Charles Street for $200,000, which the library has already optioned, and deliver that to the city and itself for a joint parking lot constructed by the library.
The city will abandon its parking lot at Charles and Fourth and turn it and the parcels where the library is now located over to the library. The city also will vacate Fourth Street from Charles to the west side of the alley.
The land agreement is contingent upon the library successfully passing a bond authorization ballot proposal for $14 million in the Nov. 8 election. Bonds must be sold within six months of the election authorizing them and the operating millage. The building and the 85-space parking lot is to be completed within three years of the bond sales.
The library board was enthusiastic about approving both the agreement with the city and the millage proposal that evening.
Library Director Mary Jo Suchy had proposed a new library budget and had suggested they ask for a 0.7 mill increase to the 0.7 mill library tax already approved for a total 1.4 mills. This would leave them with an expected $38,467 of revenue over expenditures.
Building Committee Chairperson Joy Cichewicz, a librarian in Ypsilanti, said she didn’t feel there was enough in the budget for technology, which she knows is very important, and the $38,467 buffer wasn’t much.
After much discussion, the board passed the 0.75 mill proposal that would expect to generate $101.884 of revenue over expenditures.
That would be a total of 1.45 mills for the library, with the .07 mill already approved.
Board member John Juriga said the old fire hall behind the museum will be right in front of the new library building. He said the fire hall is “kind of nasty.” Library architect Dan Whisler met with the museum board earlier that day to discuss redesigning the museum and fire hall area as a community center.
Mary Jane Dawson, chairperson of the Marketing Committee, said Conrad Welsing was guest speaker at a recent meeting and he offered a lot of good ideas on marketing the library to get the bond and millage passed. They are planning Woman on the Street interviews that they will put on YouTube, among other promotions.
The Personnel Committee, chaired by Michael Boelter, presented upgraded salary recommendations for staff. The board approved the proposal that will take effect July 1. The suggestions were based on information from the Detroit Suburban Librarians Roundtable 2015 Statistics Compilation Report.
Architect Whisler said he would try to develop a final set of graphics to put on display June 1 at the Chamber of Commerce’s coffee hour at the library.
Meng Chan, who called himself an “interested citizen,” was a member of the audience for the first time and offered suggestions and asked questions throughout the meeting. Board President Sharon Peters thanked him for coming and for adding so much to the discussions.
The meeting was video recorded by Sam Cumberland, who used to record Sumpter Township meetings for cable viewing.