County looking at Shawano library’s future

The Shawano County Executive Committee tasked the library board July 22 with examining the best and most cost-effective way to improve or build a new library in Shawano while examining ways to improve the other five branch facilities.

Pending maintenance cost projects are expected to cost close to $700,000, according to Administrative Coordinator James Davel. Long-term projects included in the county’s capital improvement projects list including eliminating black mold and sewer gases coming into the community, he said, along with replacing the heating and air conditioning systems, replacing the library’s elevator, upgrading the library’s lighting, replacing the boiler system and upgrading the foundation.

“What I think is important for the committee to consider is to form a committee to determine the way ahead for what the plan is for the library,” Davel said. “We cannot continue to do the Band-Aid on the current library as it stands right now. To me, we’re putting the money in and even if we put the $700,000 out, we don’t know if we fix the problems.”

Options, according to Davel, include renovations of the existing facility, building a new facility on the current site, building a new facility elsewhere in the community or finding an existing facility that could be remodeled into a library.

“I think it’s the next big build for the county,” Davel said, noting the issues with the library are significant.

Supervisor Tom Kautza pointed out that the county knew the library was going to be an issue when it took over sole management of the facility several years ago. Prior to that, the city and county shared the costs of maintaining the Shawano facility.

“When we took that building on, we knew it was a piece of junk,” Kautza said. “It was free, and we got a sizeable piece of property right downtown.”

Kautza is recommending that some of the $3.9 million the county has in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act be used to create a new library. With a new library being a one-time expense, there would not be much of an issue with the county maintaining it once funds run out in 2024.

“It’s not debt for the next 20 years like (the) health and human services (complex),” Kautza said. “There are a lot of ways where, with this funding, we can collect a lot of it back.”

Supervisor Kathy Luebke said it was likely the ARPA funds could be used, if the county board approves, as issues like black mold constitute a health and safety issue.

“I wouldn’t put $2 million into that building,” Luebke said, suggesting another location might be more appropriate.

When concerns were expressed about whether the new facility could still be relevant in the future, given the changes in technology and focus with the library, library director Kristie Hauer pointed out that the library board has already done a study on future library needs, taking on the task before the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020.

The current facility on South Sawyer Street was built in 1960, and a remodel was done and addition completed in 1990 — increasing the square footage from 12,000 to more than 21,000 square feet. However, the library study indicates that, to continue effectively serving the needs of county residents, the building will need to almost double in size to 40,000 square feet, Hauer said.

“A suitable space, size-wise, is going to be one of the bigger considerations,” she said. “That size of a building gets to be more complicated if we keep it in the middle of the city.”

Hauer suggested that, in addition to the ARPA funds, the county should consider applying for funds from the Institute of Museum Library Services, which has received a “sizeable chunk” of money for libraries to utilize.

Supervisor Kevin Conradt recommended that the existing library board take the lead on developing plans for a new facility instead of a separate committee being created. Conradt said the board could potentially solicit additional people for help, if needed.

“Let them keep moving forward and give them direction,” Conradt said. “If there are some other monies out there, let’s start pursuing them so we know our options.”

The county administration and committee members acknowledged that the problem would not be resolved right away, but now is the time to start planning.

“We’re not going to solve this overnight,” Davel said. “I think if we come up with a decent schedule and framework, then we can go forward. If we can use these (ARPA) funds for the library, it will be one shot, one kill, and we won’t be putting ourselves into debt.”

In the order for the library board to look at how best to use ARPA funds, the executive committee also urged looking at improvements for all six library facilities, even though the greatest need is with the Shawano library.

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com