Belleville Area District Library to open on Sundays starting Oct. 16

The staffing has been worked out and the Belleville Area District Library will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays, starting Oct. 16.
At the Sept. 13 meeting of the Belleville Area District Library Board, Library Director Mary Jo Suchy said they also plan to increase the morning hours as of Nov. 1. The times the library will be open starting Nov. 1 will be 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday and 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, along with the Sunday hours.
“We had always hoped we could have Sunday hours,” said board president Sharon Peters, adding they thought it would be years in the future.
“But that Mary Jo just moves right along,” she said.
Later in the meeting, as members voiced their delight at being open on Sundays, Peters said the only reason the library can be open on Sundays is because it has staff who will work on weekends.
In other business at the one-hour-and-16-minute meeting, the board:
• Heard Van Buren Public Schools Supt. Pete Kudlak give a presentation on the sinking fund proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot. He said .5 mills for the sinking fund is now running out and the school district is seeking 1.75 mills to replace that. He said a sinking fund is for building renovation and now includes security and technology. The 1.75 mills will bring $22 million over the six years of its life. He said Belleville High School is 12 years old, Rawsonville and Edgemont are 22 years old, and the other buildings are getting older. He said he was there to just give information and he would be glad to speak to any group or individual about the sinking fund proposal. Library board president Peters said those interested could go on the library’s website to view the meeting and hear Supt. Kudlak’s whole presentation;
• Approved a resolution authorizing levy of 6.831 mills on the tax bill in the library district for Dec. 1, 2022 for operational purposes for a total tax of $1,187,259 (7 mills was approved by voters in 2010 and restored in 2022);
• Approved a resolution authorizing levy of 7.318 mills on the tax bill in the library district for Dec. 1, 2022 for operational purposes for a total tax of $1,271,902 (7.5 mills was approved by voters in 2016);
• Approved a resolution authorizing levy of 2.2 mills on the tax bill in the library district for Dec. 1, 2022 to make bond payments for the $14 million borrowed to construct and furnish a new building for library purposes and to acquire and develop an existing building for library purposes in Sumpter for a total tax of $382,370 (as approved by voters in 2016);
• Approved accounts payable of $118,452.71 which included $410 for plumbing repair by Richard’s Plumbing and Heating. Suchy said the bathroom sink at the branch in Sumpter was tearing away from the wall. The plumber reattached it as best he could but discovered that there is no backboard for the sink behind the drywall. At some point this will have to be addressed, she said;
• Heard Suchy report the sign company replaced the letter “I” in the blue, vertical sign on Charles Street. She said the recent storm did not result in any leaking from the entryway curtainwall windows. She said fingers are crossed that the last sealing repair has finally solved the problem. She also said she had the pleasure of giving a group of retired Detroit Public Library librarians a tour of Belleville’s new library. She said they asked many good questions and had a lot of positive things to say about the building;
• Learned that the library opened the first-floor program room to teens on the first day of school so they could get some after-school snacks and play board games, Jenga, Connect-4 and Corn Hole. “It was a nice day,” Suchy reported;
• Was advised the library attorney who specializes in library law, Anne Seurynck, said she is willing to work with the policy committee to review all library policies, many of which were first passed when the district library was first formed in 2010;
• Learned the sidewalk was due to be repoured that week and it would get rid of the crooked power pole along Roys Street. The work was delayed by a pipe discovered that needed to be identified. Rev. Bob White, from the church across the street, wanted it to be identified before work progressed;
• Heard Peters report that the Belleville Fire Department was at the library to practice on the elevator. It is the only electric elevator in all of Belleville, she said;
• Heard plans are being made for Harvest Fest which will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 8. It will feature a tractor parade and the museum is not involved this year. Mary Jane Dawson said the last time she was in the museum was in 2019. John Juriga said people are talking about having a goat fest next year; and
• Heard Peters say she walks through the library regularly and the bioswale and the vegetative roof and the bees on the roof show how the library is handling the environment to enhance and beautify the area. In the children’s area, Hilary Savage pointed out the bees on the purple flowers outside the window. “The work both Joy [Cichewicz] and John [Juriga] have done with the bees. I saw it with my own eyes,” she said. She said the Farmer’s Market on the Fourth Street Place in front of the library is like a festival every week and people from the market come in and out of the library. She said, “It is wonderful to see this place living up to what we hoped it would be — and an extension of that. … We were looking for this to be a cultural hub and it is.”