Rotary Club Foundation awards $50,000 to new library for meeting room

The Belleville Rotary Club Cozadd Foundation voted to award $50,000 to the Belleville Area District Library in exchange for the naming right of the 100-person meeting room in the new library now under construction.
The Rotary also would like to hold its weekly meetings in that room.
Library Director Mary Jo Suchy, who is a Rotarian, announced the grant award to the library board at its regular meeting June 12.
She said the library is working with the Cozadd Board on the conditions of the grant, but she looks forward to the future partnership with Rotary, including the ability to offer joint programming and speakers.
Suchy said over the years the Rotary has partnered with the library, including a $25,000 challenge grant to build the current library’s addition, the purchase of children’s picture books and easy readers, funding for the first public internet computers, transferring the library’s local newspaper collection to microfilm, the Civil War research project, and annual donations of books to the library in honor of the Rotary Club’s guest speakers.
The construction of the new library was discussed at length at the meeting, with focus on the delay of work because of a gas line that serves the current library that has to be moved. The temporary line to serve the present library is expected to be put on top of a new sewage line that has been delayed waiting for an approval from the county.
The board unanimously approved a motion that gave the building committee the ability to approve the steel bids that were due to be opened on June 14 or to schedule a 7:30 p.m., June 26, special meeting of the board if that were necessary. [Later in the week, the structural steel bids timeframe was extended and they bids will be opened at the library at noon on June 22.] The board discussed concerns about the price of structural steel since tariffs on foreign steel is looming, which could drive U.S. steel prices up.
It was noted the entire footprint for the building is not entirely excavated. The DTE subcontractor was seen beginning work on relocation of overhead utility lines. The board sent a check to DTE a year ago for the work.
It was reported the final drawings have been submitted to the city.
Building Committee chairwoman Joy Cichewicz said the committee met with Sumpter Township representatives on the Sumpter hexagon building that was being upgraded to hold the new library media center.
She said an architect with Sumpter’s engineers, Hennessey, drew up an outside design, “which made the building look pleasant.” And, the architect learned the HVAC system needs to be looked at some more.
Cichewicz said the new design will be using masonry to match the rest of the Sumpter Township buildings, which she described as “face brick.” Sumpter also agreed to having a single restroom in the building.
“We will have a future meeting when they have more design,” she said, noting no timeframe has been given.
“It’s not on track for an Oct. 1 occupancy,” said architect Dan Whisler, referring to a recent estimate. He said the library was planning to replace all the windows in the hexagon building being renovated and they will have to discuss that with the Sumpter architect who is concentrating on the outside design.
In other business at the one-hour-and-30-minute meeting on June 12, the library board:
• Held a public hearing on the 2018-19 library general fund budget of $2.4 million and then approved it and also approved the $1.9 million amended budget for 2017-18. The Capital Projects Fund budget was $11,655,962 as of July 1, 2018 and with expenditures of an expected $8.3 million for construction work in progress, a fund balance of $3,395,962 is expected for June 30, 2019;
• Learned because of more personal property tax from the state the tax levy for the taxpayer will be .64 mill, rather than the expected .75 mill; and
• Approved committing $945,000 to the following fiscal year budget, as required by GASB 54.