Belleville Area District Library now fully open, back in full service

The Belleville Area District Library is now fully open and back in full service. The chairs have been returned to their places around the library and people are invited to sit and stay and read and browse at will.
This is what library director Mary Jo Suchy reported to the library board at its regular, in-person meeting on July 13.
She said with parents working with children on the child computers, “It feeds my soul seeing our building being used this way.”
Suchy said masks are no longer required for the public, but the patrons are invited to wear masks if they wish. She said all chairs, tables, computers, and study rooms have been opened and booking of the larger rooms by organizations will begin no later than Aug. 1.
She said patrons have discovered the second-floor terrace and seem pleased.
The board unanimously suspended the COVID Plan and the Reopening Policy, as requested by Suchy and required by the state.
“One year ago we were required to have a response plan … and it’s time to let these documents go … to suspend them, as required by law,” she said. “If we had to go back we can enact them or come up with a new plan.”
Suchy also said as part of the Summer Reading Program they are collecting items for Friends of Michigan Animal Rescue, the no-kill animal shelter in Sumpter Township.
In other business at the almost one-hour meeting, the board:
• Heard building committee chairperson Joy Cichewicz announce that all the HVAC changes are still pending, they are fixing panels on the arc by reattaching them, there is a punch list for the landscaper, and Sumpter Township now has Wifi for the media center as well as a people counter inside. The main library also has a inside people counter. She said the inside donor signs should be installed by fall and the mailboxes Brown Dog did are done. Chairperson Sharon Peters said 30-50 inside donor signs and tree signs have been delayed for over a year. Suchy said mockups are being done first and Cichewicz said they are expected to be installed by fall. Peters said the building had a small leak during a recent storm and that has been repaired;
• Heard John Juriga report that he has talked to the city manager and the assistant city manager and they called in DPW director Rick Rutherford concerning the city escrow account that once contained $52,000 of library funds for Hennessey Engineering work on the site. “There should be money left,” Cichewicz said;
• Heard Juriga also report that Congresswoman Debbie Dingell gave him the number of the CEO of the American Mobility Center at Willow Run to talk to about his goal of having recharging stations put into the far end of the new parking lot. Juriga said the CEO said he is in the process of getting grants to install recharging stations. Juriga also reported that besides being on the library board, he is also on the museum board. He wanted to report that the library paid the museum $8,700 for office space inside the former fire station during library construction instead of hiring a construction trailer;
• Heard Suchy report that they are putting together a temporary food policy for the library because they want everyone to feel at home there. She said there will be separate zones and they will bring it to the policy committee when it’s done. She said;
• Learned reference librarian Crystal Corcoran has moved on to a full-time position at the Farmington Library, but she will remain on Belleville Library’s substitute list. Jason Prince has been promoted to full-time facilities/security assistant;
• Learned the Bees in the D presentation on July 28 was originally scheduled as a virtual program, but they are working to transform it into a blended zoom and in-building program;
• Heard Suchy give a big thank you to the Friends of the Library for helping staff the library’s table in the Kids Zone at Lake Fest. They gave away free drinking cups to any child who could tell about a book that they have read this summer. The drinking cups (tumblers) come with lids and straws and feature the library’s new logo. The Friends are selling the cups at the library for $5 each;
• Was informed the date of Oct. 9 is being considered for the annual Harvest Fest event; and
• Heard Cichewicz thank Juriga for all he does for the library, including going to the city to ask about the deposit refund and contacting American Mobility on the recharging stations; and
• Heard Peters say the dedication of the Rotary bench in memory of Peter Quenet in front of the Media Center in Sumpter Township earlier that evening was “Good for the community.” She said she met Sumpter’s new supervisor and treasurer. She said the event showed cooperation with the library’s civic partners.