Council receives library update

ST. CLAIR SHORES — At its meeting March 17, the St. Clair Shores City Council received a progress update on the library. It is scheduled to go through extensive renovations in September, closing it temporarily from the public.

According to items attached to the meeting’s agenda, the full project would cost an estimated $2,676,900, with around $1.5 million coming from a Department of Housing and Urban Development grant and around $191,844 coming from private donations for a genealogy room and circulation desk improvements.

“The Library Director has worked with the finance department and the city manager and feels confident we could cut $100,000 out of next year’s budget to offset some costs,” the item states. “Lastly, the Library fund has an estimated balance of $400,000.”

City Manager Dustin Lent said construction documents are still being worked on, and once those come in July, they will have a firmer price. Bids are expected to go out in July as well. Lent also said the St. Clair Shores Library Board approved $135,000 from the endowment fund, and the Friends of the Library will donate $10,000 for the project.

Other cut costs include reducing some of the cleaning services while construction is ongoing.

“We do realize that we are going to have to clean some bathrooms, that kind of stuff, for staff,” Lent said. “So we’re sure we’re going to have some costs during that six-month process, but there will be some cost savings.”

The item went on to explain that the budget has an estimated shortfall of $380,956. Lent said this cost can go up or down during the construction process.

At the Feb. 18 meeting, $1,691,844 in funding was secured with an estimated soft cost of $2,517,800.

According to the item, the cost change includes removing the lighting upgrade in the adult area and adding it as an alternative, among other things.

Renovations to the library include a new genealogy room, new carpeting in the entire library, adding a new children’s area, a new makerspace and more.

Councilwoman Candice Rusie thanked everyone for the support on the project.

“It’s an old building, just like the buildings we’ve been dealing with, and this one is actually utilized a lot by the public,” Rusie said.

She said the residents utilized the expected renovated areas.

“It’s not just a place to house books. It actually, you know, is a community hub,” Rusie said.

Rusie said she’d also like to close the gap by sitting down with officials, stating some people might want to sponsor the library like they did during some of the park events. She said this might help bring down the price of costs during the project.

Lent said outreach by council members has already started, with a few organizations stating they will donate, but no firm monetary figures have been released yet. Rusie said she thinks if they have some literature with information about the library it would help sell the message.

Councilman John Caron said in terms of redoing the front of the building, a flowerbed maintained by the Beautification Commission is a memorial for a former Library Board member. They moved some of the hostas from his house to the bed on library grounds.

“Any landscaping plan around there, you need to coordinate with Lil on Beautification,” Caron said.

He said she was the driving force on maintaining that bed.

Councilman Chris Vitale said he noticed the signage and asked about what the exterior might look like due to a need to change the signs. Lent and Mayor Kip Walby stated there are no plans released yet, with Walby saying those plans will be released.

Councilman Ronald Frederick said the library director, Stephanie Fair, has suggested creating a “wall of fame” or a plaque showing who has donated.

“I can tell you we’ve spent a lot of time on this, and I think we’ve got it right to where we’ve got everything tweaked, and we can’t wait to see the bid documents,” Frederick said. “Thanks, everybody, for your help.”

To see the plans for the library, visit the St. Clair Shores website, scsmi.net, and go to the agendas under the “City council” tab.