District library board to bring architect, bond counsel to meetings

The Belleville Area District Library plans to have architect Dan Whisler with proposed drawings of a library addition at its Nov. 10 board meeting and bond counsel Paul Stoddard to teach Bond 101 at its Dec. 8 meeting.
At its regular meeting Oct. 13, the board discussed various locations for the addition, since the board has pretty much decided to keep the present building and build onto it instead of building a big, new building.
In her building committee report, chairperson Joy Cichewicz said in a conversation with Stoddard, they discussed from 9 to 14 mills and the best time to have a bond vote. She said it should be a November 2016 election, since the bond couldn’t be issued in December and would be in April 2017.
It would be on the summer tax bill. Otherwise, said Library Director Mary Joe Suchy, the interest payment would come due before the money comes in from the taxes.
Director Suchy said Stoddard, who is conservative, is taking a slightly more conservative opinion of growth. For the last bond, it was 2% a year growth, but not now.
Cichewicz said Stoddard needs to know the median home value for all three communities in the district. She said a Realtor might have that information.
Architect Whisler was at a recent building committee meeting where he presented several “footprints” for a building addition. Suchy passed out copies of the drawings he used in his presentation.
Mary Ban of Sumpter Township asked why they are using the same architect they had for the failed project and Cichewicz said Whisler was already familiar with the library and what the board wants. He has done a huge amount of work for the library and it would be hard to start over.
“More expensive,” said board member Sharon Peters.
“He’s easy to work with and knows what we want,” said board member John Juriga.
“Would the city fathers consider Main Street” as a location?” asked Ban.
“No,” said Juriga, who serves on the city’s planning commission.
“Main Street is zoned commercial,” said Cichewicz, “and would require a variance and they’d have to give us one.”
Ban said the properties that would be good for the library are still for sale on Main.
“That was our favorite plan,” Cichewicz said. “Kind of like a cultural corridor,” she said referring to having the museum on one side and the library on the other side of the street.
“These are all pictures of renovations that would make it possible to stay in this building,” Cichewicz said of the architectural footprints distributed.
“Image is very important, that we’re not wasting money,” Juriga said.
Cichewicz agreed. “The perception of the community is important.”
Peters said building over Fourth Street puts them close to the idea of a cultural center, “maximizing our integration into civic activity.”
“It’s still very early and we have to talk to the city,” Peters said.
Suchy said she and Deputy Director Hilary Savage have been working on cutting back the space needed to about 30,000 square feet and has cut it down to 32,800 square feet so far.
She said the original 2014 building proposal was 48,445 square feet and had never been revised downward to the announced 45,000.
She said they have eliminated the café, the automatic book handling, and decided the heating/cooling units have to be on the roof, since there wouldn’t be enough space inside.
“It keeps it 10 years longer insider,” said Juriga of the heating/cooling units.
Suchy said they have reduced the seating in a meeting room to 100 and have worked at reducing the number of volumes per square foot. Now the library has 17-18 items per square foot, which is tight, and they took it down to 11 and then bumped it up to 13.
They are looking at the height of shelves and the width of the aisles between the shelves, since currently electric scooters can’t fit in the aisles.
They have eliminated solar energy and geothermal because people didn’t want that, Suchy said. They eliminated a board room and have set up four group study rooms for 2-3 people and 1 group study room for 8.
“We’re still working on it,” Suchy said.
When discussing whether the addition should be one or two stories, Juriga said he prefers one floor for visual contact and, “I don’t like going across Fourth Street … I don’t think the city would let us close Fourth Street.”
When discussing parking, Cichewicz said in the survey people said having adequate parking is important.
“I come here every day and I’ve never had trouble parking,” Juriga said.
In other business at the Oct. 13 meeting, the board:
• Heard Suchy report that Harvest Fest was “wonderful” and the people counter logged 1,500. She said usually 300 people are counted on a Saturday. Chairperson of the library events for Harvest Fest was Cichewicz who was congratulated by board members for her work. She said they used up all 10 quarts of cream in their butter-making project;
• Heard Ban thank the board for starting at 7:30 p.m. so she could get from the 6:30 p.m. Sumpter Township meeting to their meeting. Until recently, the board started its meeting at 7 p.m.; and
• Heard Suchy announce the Nov. 12 Homegrown Knowledge program will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the City of Belleville’s Centennial Quilt. The quilters will be honored and will share some of the history represented by the quilt’s square.