Blackduck seeks to renovate library with local tax and state grant dollars

Christina Regas, city administrator for the city of Blackduck, updated the Beltrami County commissioners on a phased renovation to the Blackduck Library that the city plans to complete this year using a mix of local and state funds.

Regas said the city won a $200,000 Minnesota Department of Education grant for multiuse public spaces and is also using Kitchigami Regional Library System capital funds and a recently approved local option sales tax. "So between the Kitchigami money, our local option sales tax money, and the Board of Education Grant, we have a little over $350,000 to work on our library," she said.

Regas described plans to reconfigure the existing footprint rather than move to a vacant building. The project would convert an underused office and a southern restroom into a multipurpose room with new technology, re-locate reception to improve sight lines, and convert the other restroom into a family restroom.

She said engineers estimated about $275 per square foot for the renovation; the city expects the grant to reimburse technology and is treating the state grant as reimbursable funding. Regas said available local capital-improvement reserve money for the library currently stands at about $53,000 after a feasibility study.

Regas said Kitchigami staff provided in-kind support to prepare grant applications and that the library's capital-improvement dollars had been used in recent years for other system projects.

Commissioners asked whether the $350,000 covers the full project; Regas said that based on the $275 per-square-foot estimate, the money should cover the planned renovations and that unused grant funds would not be penalized.

Ending: The city hopes to finish the project this year and will use the Board of Education grant reimbursement and local tax revenues to complete the planned phases.