The Library Board is continuing to investigate the possibility of purchasing the former quilt store building at 736 Main St. after Tuesday night’s meeting.
The board is gathering more information to see if purchasing the building, rather than constructing a whole new library, is a viable option. They toured the building earlier this month.
Board President Kenny Massey met with the building inspector’s office to discuss needing a fire suppression system, an ADA entrance and parking spot requirements.
“Those were the key elements that would need to be looked at and probably done if we are to move forward with this,” he said.
Board members agreed the next steps have to be gathering a ballpark figure on what the project renovations would cost.
Massey said the plan is to have Mar Lan Construction walk through the property and assess costs based on what the board wants to change or add.
If the board does not present estimated costs, they risk the community saying it’s too expensive before even having the information, board member Tim Pringle said.
Although the city does give leeway in parking requirements, that will likely be an issue with 736 Main, Pringle said.
Board member Amy Jankowski said if the board is to buy this building, it ultimately would be a somewhat short-term fix to the issue. The library board would still want to build a new library on its land across from the current library down the line.
Board member Eric Magette said this might be the board’s only possibility for a bond. He said if the community were to approve a $1 million bond to support the library moving into the former quilt store, they likely wouldn’t want another for 20-30 years.
Pingle agreed it would likely have to be another 20-30 years before they went out for another bond.
Some of the other renovations to the quilt store building would be redoing the bathrooms and making the basement an accessible tornado shelter.
Massey said it’s also important to remember Mar Lan estimated it would cost at least $500,000 to make renovations to the current library to make it more user friendly. That was something investigated several years ago.
“We need to do our due diligence and come up with a figure to present to the patrons as to why or why not we’re going to do it,” Massey said.
Jankowski questioned if a new library on Main would be able to continue using the parking spots at the old library location.
Pringle said as soon as they move out of the current building, the property automatically goes back to the city.
Magette said it’s important to get a cost estimate, and to find out if the board can even use the capital campaign money for this purchase. He also said if taking control of the building involved a bond, he would not be in favor of that.
“Because I think the next bond we go for has to be the home-run bond because I think it’s our last shot,” he said.
Massey said the consensus of the board is to continue to do their due diligence to get an accurate cost and to begin communicating with the community about those costs. They’ll plan to make a decision from there, he said.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
