By Kim McDarison 

The City of Whitewater Common Council approved Tuesday funding $3 million of a $5 million library expansion and renovation project. 

The council approved a resolution which stated that the city will make a $3 million contribution to the project once the city’s library board can show it has obtained funding for the remaining $2 million, which, the library board stated, includes fundraising for a portion of the monies needed.

Monies to fulfill the city’s contribution would be included in the city’s 2024 budget. 

The measured was approved by a 6-1 vote with Councilman Jim Allen casting the ‘no’ vote. 

During the meeting, council heard a presentation given my library board member Jim Winship and Library Director Stacey Lunsford. 

Addressing members of council, Winship said the project proposed by the library board was more of a renovation than an expansion. 

The proposed addition to the building would add some 7,000 square feet. 

In the existing portion of the building, he said, the restrooms and the checkout desk would be the same, but everything else would be different. 

The new building would feature increased meeting room space, increased Makerspace space, more space for teens and upgrades allowing for the use of better technology. 

“Updating the library is just another selling point when enticing families to come to Whitewater,” Winship said, adding: “We can afford to make this investment. 

“I think this is especially important now, because we are in a community where close to half the students get free or reduced lunches, and the impact of the pandemic will still be going on for many, many years when this library opens.”

Looking at the $2 million commitment to the project which would need to come from the library board, Winship said: “The library has, one way or another, about $1 million in assets. We would fundraise for the other one.”  

Lunsford next addressed the council sharing highlights of the plan. 

Aided by slides, Lunsford presented a graphic showing the library’s current footprint. The graphic included the library, its parking lot and some properties, Lunsford said the library board had acquired to the east. 

Looking at the library building, she said, a small area extending from the west side of the building delineated the current “Community Room.” 

“That’s the part that’s going to be expanded,” she said. 

Said Lunsford: “We are going to demolish the current lobby and Community Room and we are going to build an addition on the west side. So there will be an expanded lobby; there’s going to be several meeting rooms of various sizes that are going to be flexible in their sizing — they can be made smaller, they can be made larger, they can open up into the lobby for venues that require extra space. So we are making it very flexible.”

Plans also call for a walkway along the building’s west side which could be used for additional programming, she said.  

Looking at the existing building, she said, plans for renovations include moving the adult section closer to the current library entrance and moving the early learning section into the building’s southeast corner. 

“We are going to be adding a children’s restroom there, a nursing mother’s room there, (and) there’s going to be a new small office space for the youth educational services librarian,” Lunsford said, adding that the area used for the library’s Makerspace program will be renovated into a children’s story time room. 

With the expanded building, Lunsford said, “we need to have expanded restrooms; you need to have so many stalls per square foot.” 

Within the one-story addition visitors to the library will find a new social reading and discover area. 

Space within in new addition will accommodate the free pantry, and spaces where people can sit, use wifi, read, socialize, all outside the library proper, Lunsford said. 

“A lot of times people want to talk, they want to chat, and then other people want quiet. So this offers us the opportunity to do that, which we don’t have right now. It’s hard to get a quiet corner in the current library,” she said. 

Addressing costs associated with the project, Lunsford noted that construction costs for the addition are estimated at $1.7 million. The remaining costs of the project are for the renovations to the existing building, and costs associated with the architectural and design team. 

Citing a need for renovations, Lunsford said the library building is 30 years old. 

“It is not a very modern building as far as the ability to have technology and those things in it. We need to replace the lighting. The lighting is very bad. The carpet needs to be replaced. We have a lot of bubbling and tears there. We need to have more electrical outlets. We need to have more places for people to plug in their devices. That’s extremely important to people. What we have right now are some outlets that sit up off the floor; they are a tripping hazard, but it is the best we can offer.” 

Discussion about financing

Councilwoman Carol McCormick expressed concern with rising construction costs. She asked: “This is going to be through 2024? How are you going to compensate for the cost of construction over the next two years? We are committing $3 million. Would you be able to cover that gap should it increase? 

Lunsford responded: “I don’t have a crystal ball so I can’t really answer that with any confidence. I like to have facts when I say things. We understand that asking for this commitment — that we have to come up with the rest of the money first. And so we will be looking at that and I would assume that we would be adjusting our capital campaign as we saw things going up.” 

Offering encouragement, Lunsford said she and library board members had learned, after having conversations with other library boards which had engaged in capital campaigning, that they had exceeded their fundraising goals.  

Whitewater Director of Finance and Administration Steve Hatton also offered some financial information, looking to answer the question, he said: “How does this fit into our CIP and our financial plans?” 

Sharing several slides from the city’s November budget process, Hatton said the city, along with its biennial budget and Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) had created a “10 Year Horizon,” which, he said, aimed to predict and plan for the city’s capital needs within a 10-year window. 

Within those documents, he said, the city had identified resources for the library renovation project.  

Among dollars earmarked, he said, was $250,000 of spending from within the fund balance in the 2023 budget, and, he said, the library board has roughly $1 million in funding that would be coming from assets held and controlled by the board. 

Hatton said those dollars were among the first that could be spent to pay for design and other early project costs. Construction, he said, would likely take place in 2024 or 2025, at which time the council would need to approve its contribution coming from that budget cycle. 

Looking more specifically at funding sources, Hatton said, “I can see a bond issuance in 2024 for $3 million.” 

Additionally, he pointed to $1 million in fundraising, $500,000 of cash or fund balance from the library board, which, he said represents the real estate the library board holds, and some funds held by the library board in its fund 220, which, he said, the board intends to commit to the project. 

Looking at revenue forecasts, he said: “We’ve been very conservative with property values, so we show a return on TID 4 that comes back into the tax base, and then the growth of the property values …so we don’t want to paint a rosy picture … we’ve been very conservative with estimates for the tax base.”

The forecast and the 10-year CIP horizon include plans for several city projects, he said.

Looking at a potential for borrowing, Hatton pointed to a chart showing state imposed limits on the city’s borrowing capacity. The council, he said, has a policy whereby the city may not borrow more than 70% of the state imposed limit. The chart showed that the city’s current level of borrowing was within the 50- to 55% range over the full 10-year horizon. 

Discussion 

During discussion, Councilman Lukas Schreiber said he was in favor of the project and saw a need for the library to keep up with “changing times and the need for upgraded technology, especially.” 

Said Allen: “I think we are all in favor of the expansion of the library. I think the library needs changes, certainly technology needs to change, and maybe the lighting needs to be changed … The problem I have is $3.3 million for remodeling … that seems a little outlandish to me. 

“We’ve got $1 million set aside for a water tower, a million and a half for the lakes drawdown, a million-plus for a lift station, $10 million projected for the city garage, $2 million projected for police property garage, and another $5 million for the library, that’s twenty and a half million dollars. 

“You have to scale things back. This doesn’t even include the fire and rescue referendum; we already know we are going to have to go to referendum because we are going to have to ask the taxpayer to pay more, an increase, on their taxes, than the state allows us to give …

“I can’t support this as it is,” Allen concluded. 

Allen proposed making changes to language within the resolution whereby the city would be committed to the project “up to $2 million.” 

With no second offered by other council members the motion failed. 

Council members discussed changes that had been made to the resolution as it was presented Tuesday by city attorney Wally McDonnell. 

New language stipulates that the library board must raise its portion of the funding required before the city will take action to approve the $3 million committed. 

“My feeling is if people are telling us they want this, and the library board can have them put their money where their mouth is, then we should support this and say, put your money where your mouth is, and see what happens. If it doesn’t happen, we don’t have to do this,” said Councilwoman Brienne Brown.  

For more information on the library renovation project, visit the city’s websote: https://whitewater-wi.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=341.