Renovations needed at Fraser Public Library

FRASER — Though a hole from a crash at the Fraser Public Library has been fixed, a lot more renovations lie ahead.

Lorena McDowell, Fraser Public Library director, said the building at 14 Mile and Freuhauf roads was purchased by the library in the second week of February. The library purchased the building from the city but has operated out of two temporary locations in a strip mall on 15 Mile Road since the crash.

The hole in the wall left after a vehicle struck the building in May 2023 has been filled, but McDowell said the library has to be completely renovated and redone. She said the library has mold and other dangers that pose a threat to the public.

“Things need to be done so I’m just asking for the public to be patient,” McDowell said.

She went on to say that because the library is a public building, they have to comply with a series of legal stipulations.

“There are many things that we have to follow to make sure we are doing everything legally,” McDowell said.

Fatima Syed, the Fraser Public Library’s marketing and development coordinator, said they have to follow protocol.

“We want the building to be safe for our patrons and the staff as well,” Syed said.

She added that they are trying to move as fast as they can safely.

McDowell said before the library owned the building, they could not legally put more money into the library.

“That being said, what needs to be done to that building is way more than we have,” McDowell said. “We are going to have to ask the city for bonds. Whether or not they’ll do that, who knows?”

Things unrelated to the crash caused more damage to the library. McDowell said the ceiling collapsed causing water leakages and other issues. Syed said that though they could not renovate the building, they were constantly checking to make sure the building was functional.

“We stopped doing anything because we weren’t there. We didn’t have access to things,” McDowell said.

A building assessment completed in October 2024 found that they need around $3.7 million just to bring the existing structure up to code. This includes things like an elevator replacement.

Right now, nothing remains in the building. McDowell said that due to the crash, library staff had to move everything, clean it and replace items if necessary.

“Now it’s all in storage,” McDowell said. “Everything that’s not here, probably half of our stuff is here. The other half’s in storage.”

The building itself was originally owned by Saint John Lutheran Church. When the millages established the library, they rented the building from the church for around 20 years. The church made an offer, and the city purchased the building as well as surrounding land.

“Now it is ours,” McDowell said. “Though not the cemetery. The cemetery still belongs to the city.”

Syed said that the community has been very supportive, but they don’t want to put extra monetary pressure on them. She said due to the type of library they are, they cannot take on debt and they have to go through the city to get bonds.

“We wouldn’t be asking for a bond that we can’t afford,” Syed said. “Monetarily, we can support the bond that we’re asking for.”

McDowell added that the bond would be a City Council vote instead of placing it on the ballot at an upcoming election.

“It wouldn’t be any extra taxes from the people,” McDowell said.

The next thing they need to do is talk about building plans and get numbers from there. They then will go before the City Council.

“We can’t just go out and get a contractor and then start,” McDowell said. “I think people think we can, but we can’t.”

She said with the whole process including plans, bids and other things, this process could take months.

McDowell said that they still implemented a lot of things they promised to in the millage including take home laptops and other things.

“So we’ve done a lot of the stuff that we had said we would do, and we will continue to do that stuff,” McDowell said.