Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Library Funding And Operations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Library board: Millville Public Library is not closing; $3.2 million state grant requires 20-year use
Summary
The Millville Public Library Board of Trustees issued a statement at the commission work session saying the library will not close and explaining that a $3.2 million state matching grant requires the renovated space be used as a library for at least 20 years or risk repayment.
The Millville Public Library Board of Trustees told the Millville City Commission at a work session that the library is not closing and clarified conditions tied to a state matching grant for a renovation and expansion project.
"Millville Public Library is not closing," the board said in a prepared statement read at the work session. The statement said one major condition of receiving $3,200,000 in state matching funds was that any renovated or expanded portions of the building must be used as a library for a minimum of 20 years; otherwise the city would be required to refund the $3,200,000.
The trustees’ statement said the city also added $770,000 in matching funds to secure the grant. It noted the project’s planning began more than 15 years ago and that construction delays during the pandemic raised material and operating costs. The trustees said the library has been flat-funded by the city for more than a decade, forcing cuts to programs the board had hoped to restore after the expansion.
Courtney Reese, identified in the discussion as the library director, and the trustees said architects designed the renovated space around operating-cost concerns, including energy-efficient heating and cooling, placement of the front desk and seminar rooms, and accessibility features. Reese and the trustees asked commissioners to review patron responses and community feedback during the library’s annual report, which the trustees said they plan to present at the Feb. 18 city commission meeting.
Commissioners used the session to refute circulating social-media rumors that the police department would be moved into library space. Commissioner Hewitt, speaking during the work session, said there were no plans to relocate the Millville Police Department into the library building and called the rumor "crazy talk." Board members and several commissioners emphasized the library’s role in serving children, adults without home internet access and victims of domestic violence who use the library as a confidential meeting place for advocates.
No formal action to change library operations was proposed or taken during the work session.
