The cost of temporarily moving the Grand Marais Public Library to the Cook County ISD Schools complex while the library building is expanded is not going to be cheap—and who will pay with what money was a topic of some discussion at the Tuesday, May 31, 2011 county board meeting.
County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers reported that the county’s bond attorney does not think the cost of temporarily moving the library can be paid from the 1 percent county sales and use tax that is funding the library addition itself.
Library board member David Quick gave a worst-case-scenario estimate of what moving the library temporarily could cost. The school will be paid $2,000 a month for an anticipated six months for use of its space ($12,000) plus possibly another $2,000 to help pay for heating the space, which will include the Jane Mianowski meeting room and the current district office. A company specializing in moving libraries gave an initial quote of $7,500-8,500 to move the library’s contents one way but offered to reduce the amount by up to 30 percent with the help of volunteers. Moving the two Internet access systems—one with the Arrowhead Library System and the other with local provider Boreal Access—could cost a couple thousand dollars, Quick said, and a temporary book drop and signage would add more costs.
Quick’s “ballpark” guess was $25,000-$35,000 for the temporary relocation, which included savings on utilities and custodial costs that wouldn’t be incurred while the building was under construction. He said he was hoping a special library account held by the City of Grand Marais and contributions from Cook County would cover the expense. The library board had not even had a chance to discuss this issue yet because they had not known at their last meeting that moving costs might not be an allowed use of the 1 percent tax.
City Finance Director Kim Dunsmoor said that the city’s 215 Fund, made up largely of memorial donations to the library, has about $200,000 in it. “That’s what these funds are set up for,” said Commissioner Jan Hall. Commissioner Fritz Sobanja, on the library board, said the board had hoped some of that fund could be used to pay for furniture and new equipment to furnish the expanded and reorganized library.
Commissioners Bruce Martinson, Jan Hall, and Jim Johnson indicated that they supported partnering with the city to cover the cost of the temporary move. The city and the county have an agreement to share operating costs for the library.
At a previous meeting, the county board had been told that the library could remain in operation at its current location while construction went on, since the addition could be cordoned off from the rest of the building.
The board took no action on making a commitment to pay for the library’s temporary move.
Leave a Reply