Editor’s note: this story has been updated to include an extended anticipated timeline. 

By Kim McDarison

Whitewater city officials have announced that a renovation and expansion project at the Irvin L. Young Memorial Library will begin next month.

According to information released by officials Friday, the project is set to begin on Monday, Sept. 9, with access to the library’s parking lot closed on that date to allow for the staging of construction equipment.

Additionally, the release noted, the library will be closed to the public beginning Monday, Sept. 16, and remain closed through mid-October.

Miron Construction, based in Neenah, will be overseeing the project, the release stated.

The company anticipates that the library will reopen to the public on Oct. 11, the release continued.

While the first part of the construction is underway, a fence will be put in place around the library parking area as a safety measure, the release read.

Diane Jaroch, Irvin L. Young Memorial Library director, responding to questions by phone, said the first part of the project includes closing the library to the public while a temporary entrance and other adjustments are put in place. The library will then reopen to the public. 

The full project is anticipated to complete in October of 2025. 

Some project history

The library’s renovation and expansion project, as earlier reported by WhitewaterWise, includes a 7,000-square-foot addition.

Some funding for the project was approved by the Whitewater City Council in December of 2021. The approval was contingent on the library board’s ability to raise any additional funds needed to complete the project.

In December of 2021, the city approved a resolution making clear its commitment to fund $3 million of what was then described as a $5 million project. A contingency of the approval made the library board responsible for providing $2 million of the project’s cost.

Monies committed by the city council would be included in the city’s 2024 budget.

In 2021, then-Whitewater City Finance Director Steve Hatton noted that, among dollars earmarked for the project, $250,000 would come from within the city’s 2023 budget fund balance.

“I can see a bond issuance in 2024 for $3 million,” Hatton said.

Also in 2021, Hatton 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 noted, the board intends to commit to the project.

In 2021, the library board told council members that it would obtain a portion of the money through fundraising.

Council approved the measure by a 6-1 vote, with the late Councilman Jim Allen casting the ‘no’ vote.

In 2023, then-library director Stacey Lunsford noted that inflation had brought the full cost of the project to $6 million, and fundraising efforts had netted all but $300,000 of the $2.25 million in donations needed to fund the project.

Lundsford resigned from her position as library director in November of last year. She noted in her resignation letter that she had accepted a position in Minnesota.

In September of 2023, the library’s Capital Campaign Committee announced that it was within $93,000 of reaching its project fundraising goal.

The campaign officially closed in October of 2023.

What will be built?

In 2021, Lunsford presented the library’s renovation plans to the city council.

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 the 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.

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.”

An earlier story, including artist renditions of the library’s renovations and addition, is here: https://whitewaterwise.com/lunsford-to-council-library-is-166000-away-from-2-25-million-fundraising-goal/.