Fraser City Council asks library board to act on building reoccupation

FRASER — Members of the Fraser City Council were eager to move out of limbo and into the Fraser Public Library building’s future at its Oct. 10 meeting.

Councilwoman Amy Baranski said she personally would like to see the library return to its previous location at the intersection of Freuhauf Road and 14 Mile Road. But, as a councilwoman, said that the longer the building sits vacant, the more expenses will pile up.

“It’s time to have an answer,” Baranski said at the meeting. “Either they buy it for the terms we’ve offered, or whatever terms this current council wants, or we sell it.”

Councilwoman Patrice Schornak, Mayor Pro Tem Dana Sutherland and Mayor Michael Lesich echoed Baranski’s comments, saying a determination needed to be made.

City Attorney Donald DeNault worked with the council to decide how best to move forward with library officials. The council’s unanimously approved motion was for the city attorney to reach out to the library board’s attorney. After this, the library would then need to indicate its intention for the building by Nov. 6. This would allow time to add the information to the council’s packet prior to its Nov. 14 meeting. The terms that would be used for its purchase would be those that were in place prior to the crash that damaged the building on May 21, 2023. The library and the city had previously agreed to the city’s sale of the building to the library for $1.

The library moved out of the building following the crash through one of its walls. No one was injured in the crash. The library has been in two separate spots in the same strip mall since July 1, 2023, located near the intersection of 15 Mile Road and Hayes Road.

Baranski questioned whether or not the library could’ve moved back into the building following the crash. This led to a heated exchange between her and Lesich, who said the library had no choice but to vacate the building.

“I’m sorry, you’re an expert in structural engineering?” Baranski said to Lesich.

“There was a truck in the building. They couldn’t stay,” Lesich said.

“They chose to move out. They made that business choice,” Baranski said. “I’ll stand by that. Our own people said they could stay and wall it off and do the repairs, but you’re the expert.”

Both ended up apologizing to each other.

The library’s Board of Trustees President Marlene Hoeft pushed back on Baranski’s assertion at the meeting.

“We were forced out of the building,” Hoeft said. “You may think we made that choice on our own. However, our insurance company insisted that we move out of that building at the time of that accident.”

Hoeft said, in addition to the hole in the wall, cement dust was widespread in the library after the crash. Everything needed to be taken out of the building and cleaned.

According to Fraser City Manager Elaine Leven, there are approximately $3 million worth of repairs needed before the building can be reoccupied. However, Leven said the city would need to determine, with its own inspector, if this was necessary before it is reoccupied.

Hoeft said a stumbling block to getting back in the building was the certificate of occupancy. She said she was informed by an architect and the library’s attorney that the building would need to be up to code before operations could return.

“It looks like everything would need to be up to code before we are issued a certificate of occupancy,” Hoeft said. “We’re hoping we don’t have to have everything back up to code.”

Money is also an issue. Hoeft said the library, in order to get the certificate of occupancy, must make repairs all at once in order to get back into the building. Hoeft said these repairs were originally scheduled to be done over a span of years.

“We are definitely interested in the building,” Hoeft said. “We have not been looking at any other properties or considering any other properties.”