Memphis Public Library

The Memphis Public Library has an adjacent community center building, both owned by the city, that was once a church and dates to 1923. Image courtesy of GOOGLE MAPS

When voters go to the polls in Memphis March 10, supporters of a millage proposed to fund renovations at the local library and construction of a new community center are hoping the second time’s the charm.

The same millage, which seeks 1.25 mills for 15 years, was defeated by 12 votes, 84-72, in November 2019. The defeat was attributed to low voter turnout.

The millage plan calls for tearing down the 1,500-square-foot community center, adjacent to the library, which dates to 1923 and was formerly a church. It will then be rebuilt on one floor with a full basement covering 1,800 square feet to 2,100 square feet at an estimated cost of $300,000.

The library’s Potter Street location, which is a branch of the St. Clair County Library System, is housed in a building owned by the city.

The proposal projects that a home in the city valued at $150,000, with a taxable value of $75,000, would be taxed $93.75 per year.

If the millage passes this time, there would be a new one-story building, a dry basement, a new heating and cooling system and enough space for the historical society, Birkett said.

In the 23 years at its current location, the library has undergone some repairs including a roof, window coverings, drainage in the rear of the building, lighting at the front door, a bike rack, drinking fountain, paintings and sidewalks.

A few things that haven’t been reconciled are a ramp or wheelchair access to get up to the second floor of the community center; they lack ADA-approved doors in the entrance, and there’s a drainage problem in the spring that prompts water to gather in the basement.

-- Barb Pert Templeton, For MediaNews Group

comments powered by Disqus
https://www.macombdaily.com/news/memphis-seeks-millage-for-library-community-center/article_ddf625f0-5fe7-11ea-8bf3-23693da76b46.html
www.macombdaily.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2020-24
202575
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:ONX7JERROVEWNDB5EWEEHEASIHJXBKQ7
<urn:uuid:88476b81-b782-4042-9fbd-6d2e341b5d76>
2020-06-01T22:01:11Z
192.104.182.109
text/html
sha1:VAHBYNZPGKC2YKT3J27LXQYVKANMJSXN
<urn:uuid:ca23e6ac-7a2c-44da-b967-0bba04865d8b>
https://www.macombdaily.com/news/memphis-seeks-millage-for-library-community-center/article_ddf625f0-5fe7-11ea-8bf3-23693da76b46.html
response
<urn:uuid:03ec28e2-f5f3-4049-aed5-9ab828939038>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2020-24
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for May/June 2020
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-45.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.16 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.1-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/