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Residents press council to repair Civic Center Library elevator and fund Alfred Nobel building maintenance
Summary
Public commenters urged the Livonia City Council to address the Civic Center Library elevator outage, alleged DTE brownout damage, and long-term maintenance of the Alfred Nobel Library building; a council member said he has advocated for library improvements in his budget priorities.
Residents and advocates told the Livonia City Council on Sept. 8 that the Civic Center Library elevator has been out of service and urged the city to be transparent about inspection and repair records and to prioritize preventative maintenance for the Alfred Nobel Library building.
Cindy Fleming, a Livonia resident, asked the council to “come together with the administration to fund and complete the preventative maintenance that is desperately needed to prevent Noble's further decay” and urged the council to support a task force to develop a restoration and reuse plan.
Another speaker, Steve King, said he had filed FOIA requests with the city and the state seeking elevator inspection reports, maintenance logs and repair records. He told the council the elevator outage followed a DTE power event and that, in his view, a capacitor on a circuit board was burned by a brownout; he said Otis — the elevator manufacturer — confirmed parts were available. At the meeting King said, “DTE now has a program, a surge protection program. They should be paying for the replacement of this board.”
King also said he believed multiple narratives from the administration were inaccurate and called for accountability and transparency while asserting the library commission had not followed up on the elevator issue. Cindy Fleming and other speakers asked the council to pursue both short-term repairs to restore elevator service and a longer-term preservation plan for the Alfred Nobel Library.
Council members responded during council communication. Council Member Donovan said he is not on the library commission, but that he has “constantly advocate[d] for our library and investment in our library buildings,” and that he included Civic Center Library improvements among his budget priorities. He clarified that campaign-related questions raised earlier in the meeting were separate from the city’s library agenda.
No formal council action — such as a vote to allocate funding or to direct staff to perform repairs — was taken during the Sept. 8 study session. Speakers requested records and emphasized transparency; any staff investigation, FOIA response or funding decision would require future agenda items or administrative action.
