Belleville Rotary Club to set up ‘Little Free Library’ in Victory Park

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
At its regular meeting on Sept. 2, the Belleville City Council approved the Belleville Rotary Club’s plan to set up a Little Free Library at Victory Park sometime this month.
According to the information given to the council, a Little Free Library is a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories.
In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a wooden box full of books on a post where anyone may stop by and pick up a book, or two, and bring back another book to share.
The Belleville Rotary said it would take full responsibility for the maintenance and up-keep of the library and told of plans to refresh the nearby Gazebo at the park.
The first Little Free Library was put up in Wisconsin by a man honoring his mother and since then has become a movement spreading from state to state and country to country. There are now 18,000 of the little structures around the world, located in each of the 50 states and in 70 countries, from Ukraine to Uganda, Italy to Japan.
In other business at the 20-minute meeting, the council:
• Approved dedicating SMART Municipal Credits of $3,914 for the local Senior/Disabled Transportation Program, with a local match of $4,501 funded with the Senior transportation budget; and
• Approved accounts payable of $407,235.82 and the following purchases in excess of $500: to SLC Meters, $7,314.92 for meter replacement from the Water Department; and to TNT Trees, $1,725 for removal of three dying trees and grinding of their stumps on city property on W. Wabash.