The library board needs to have further discussion about negotiations to buy the former quilt store after its initial offer wasn’t accepted.
During Tuesday night’s board meeting, President Kenny Massey said the library’s commercial real estate agent made an offer on the building, and there was a large gap between their offer and what the seller wanted.
Massey said at this point they are going to step back to rethink some of this and see what the board can come up with, as well as talk to the property owner.
Board member Tim Pringle said what the experts value the building at versus what the owner wants to sell it as is too great and cannot be justified for now.
He said he suspects there will be more communication, but they also have to do what experts recommend or people would be upset with them for spending more than experts say the property is worth.
The board went into executive session for 30 minutes Tuesday to discuss next steps and the negotiations process thus far.
The board decided to officially enter negotiations on the building at 736 Main St. at its meeting at the end of May. The building formerly housed Quilting Bits N Pieces and is owned by the DeArmonds.
Bill DeArmond said Wednesday morning that he did not want to offer comment on the negotiations process.
To prepare for a potential purchase, board members and staff have been working with an architect on a potential floor plan to get the former quilt store to an operational state as a library. Plans will have to go through the Board of Zoning Appeals for approval, Massey said at the last meeting.
The board also previously worked with nearby businesses to secure additional parking spot agreements to meet city requirements.
In other business, library staff is also working on putting together a budget to be presented at the July meeting so discussions about the mill levy can happen before the deadline to notify the public of the revenue neutral rate.
There are a lot of unknowns about the budget as the library is still unsure of its future in the new building, which leaves questions about higher utility bills, insurance and need for more spending for additional programming with the new building’s larger space, Director Carol Wohlford said.
Massey said he would work on getting estimates from the city about utility costs for the new building to help plan for budget costs.
Board member Eric Magette asked if a raise for staff had been considered, and said he felt it needed to be a consideration for professional staff especially as costs for everything have increased.
Wohlford said she would work on potential budgets and would take this into consideration.
In other business, the board also discussed what to do with books they pay to keep in a storage unit. The price for the unit totals around $3,000 a year, Massey said.
The items in storage are books they want to be able to have out at the library but just do not have room for, Wohlford said. There was an option to keep the items in a barn owned by Pringle, but without climate control and pest control, it may not be the best option, many agreed. The board has to decide whether it wants to move them to a cheaper location now or wait in hopes of having a home for them in the new building.
Board member Amy Jankowski said they should just hold off on making a decision for a couple of months while they try to sort out the future of the library.
Also during the meeting, Wohlford let the board know the library secured a $1,500 grant to bring back STEAM kits and create a Lego club.