Bobbi Schoon, interim director of the Three Rivers Public Library, recently sat down with Watershed Voice to provide an update about the ongoing renovation work at the library’s future home at 88 N. Main St., and how it has been progressing.
“It’s all exciting to me. We just did our [most recent] site meeting (Thursday),” Schoon said. “Just seeing everything come together has been really amazing.”
Discussions about the possibility of purchasing the building first began in late 2015, when Southern Michigan Bank and Trust announced plans to consolidate local operations at its US-131 facility. The bank vacated the space on Main Street in late spring of 2017, and the library board voted to purchase the building that summer. It accepted a bid for the work from Brussee-Brady in May 2019, and work commenced shortly afterward.
The new facility will offer a number of features the Library has wanted to provide for some time.
“One of the things that we love, and it will be on hold until we know it’s safe (in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic), but we have a lot of custom spaces over there,” said Schoon. “We have a computer lab for adults. We have a computer lab for teens. We have a study room. So, of course we’ll have to wait to open up those spaces until we know it’s safe and we have the go-ahead, but we’re going to be able to offer so many more things and we can host more people at a time meeting-wise because we have these dedicated spaces.
“The children, the teens, and the adults will each have their own separate program rooms, so that opens up what we can do. The current building that we’re in only has one program room, so we’re always, like, thumb wrestling each other over who gets to use it when so this really opens up what we can do. We don’t have to try to schedule around each other quite so much.”
Schoon also sees the new location as an opportunity to expand the library’s programs outside of its walls.
“We’re excited about being downtown,” Schoon said. “We really want to start doing some things that draw people in, and we want to work with the businesses down there, so we can say, ‘here’s a library program,’ and hopefully the businesses that want to can be a part of it. We can do scavenger hunts, ‘go find this in [a certain business], and kind of get people in that beautiful downtown that we will be a part of.”
Schoon continued, “I’ve talked with [Mayor] Tom Lowry a little bit because I see him around, and I’ve talked with Tricia [Meyer] a bit, the current DDA Director, just so we have some plans but until we are settled, I didn’t want to — the move is a lot, and COVID’s a lot — so I try to make sure I’m not starting to bite off more than I can chew, but that’s one of the first things that I want to start on once we get over there.
“I did sit and speak with Rebecca Shank from the Silliman House, and we want to try and put together like a field trip idea for the schools where they can come and tour, the Silliman House, the library, the Carnegie, and the [St. Joseph County] Historical Society downtown and see those places and get them aware of what’s out there for them, the resources that we have, and that kind of thing. So, we’re starting to slowly say, ‘what is it we can do down here?”
Although there is much planning yet to be done, Schoon said, “I’m psyched about it. It’s on my mind all the time. I’m constantly coming back and being like, ‘I thought of this thing we can probably do!’ So, hopefully I’ll remember all of those cool things when it’s time.”
There are a few more things to finish before the library can move into the new building. The library board is currently reviewing bids for the move, and as plans come together, the library will close for roughly two weeks before it reopens in the new location. Schoon says library staff and board members are currently hoping for a July move, but a few steps of work and planning must happen first.
With pandemic concerns likely to still be a factor, curbside service will continue once they are set up in the new facility.
“We’re excited to get over there as soon as possible, so we’re not going to wait on full reopening. It would be nice if it lined up, but we want to get moving and get over there as soon as we can,” Schoon said. “We thought we’d be gearing up for a grand opening, but of course we don’t want to do anything that’s not safe, so we’re going to have to get kind of creative about that. We might, once we’re in there, do a virtual tour so people can see it, or something along those lines.”
In the meantime, Schoon has been pleased overall with the renovations at the new facility.
“We’re just making steady progress,” she said.
Schoon also noted several change orders have been made over the course of the project, each with its own cost adjustments, but the project itself has generally been smooth.
“I really feel like we have a good partner with Brussee Brady. If you watch any kind of HGTV shows, there’s always a hiccup when you’re remodeling a building that’s old, so hiccups aren’t surprising, but we’ve had a good team of support. There was a hiccup with the elevator, but Brussee Brady covered part of that. They’re really stepping up and making sure we have a good building for the community,” Schoon said.
“There has been nothing so outstanding that it was like ‘I can’t believe that this happened,’ except maybe the heat and air. But that was nobody’s fault, it goes out when it goes out, there’s nothing you can do about it. So, the bad news is that we needed new heat and air, but the good news is that it was cheaper to do it when everything was open, and now we have brand-new heat and air for the community. If it was going to happen, better that it happen now than two months into us being there.”
Schoon said she feels good overall about the project budget, too. “Every penny counts so we want to make sure we’re being good stewards of the money for the community,” Schoon said.
The original project budget at the time of the building purchase was $1.2 million, which included $350,000 for the building and a 10 to 15 percent contingency fund. There have been other additions and changes for the project, such as the replacement of windows, but Schoon said all of the changes, including the heat and air conditioning work, have impacted less than half of the contingency budget. Other savings have helped to offset the changes and additions.
“We’ve been very cautious with the regular budget this year, so we were able to find some funding there for some of the furniture and that kind of thing. We’ve had some great partners in the community with the fundraising that we’ve been doing. In the few short months that we did it, we raised $20,000 toward the project, which is incredibly helpful,” Schoon said. “We did just win a grant from Wal-Mart, that’s going to help us complete the teen area that we were really hoping to get, so that’s pretty amazing.
“Unfortunately, COVID happened, so it’s not the best time to be doing fundraising, but we’re sitting in a good position to finish out [the first and second floors as planned] with the savings that we’ve had, the fundraising that we’ve done, and the budget where it is. We’re not sitting here last minute going, ‘oh no, here’s something required by an inspector and we don’t know what to do.’ We don’t have that issue looming for us, which is good.”
Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.
CORRECTIONS
When this article was originally published on Saturday, June 13, 2020, errors were made that require correction. They are as follows:
•In the third paragraph, it was stated public computers were available by appointment. This is incorrect. The library is not currently allowing any public in the building, and there is no access to public computers. However, there is access to the library’s Wi-Fi from the parking lot.
•In the ninth paragraph, it’s stated that the closure for the move to the new library facility is expected to last about two weeks. In a follow-up email, Schoon said she expects the closure to last three weeks. Schoon also noted there are no plans to continue curbside service at the new location.
•Later in the article, we reported Schoon had spoken with the Southern Michigan Libraries Association regarding pandemic strategies. The correct title for this organization is the Southwest Michigan Library Cooperative.
•Lastly, to clarify potentially confusing language used in describing how the closure affected library staff, four employees continued to work throughout the pandemic closure, and six others returned to work beginning Monday, June 15.
Even with these corrections, information regarding reopening of public facilities like the library can still change. Please call the library or consult its website and Facebook page for the most accurate and up-to-date information.
