Seeking City Council Approval on October 21

This coming Tuesday night, October 21 we will be going to City Council to seek approval for the preliminary design, pricing, timeline and funding for the renovated library. We met with City Council in Work Session on October 14-- library staff, the project architects, members of the Capital Campaign Committee and the City Finance Director-- and had a great discussion about the project design and costs. Because of some unanticipated and significant Life-Safety, deferred maintenance and building code requirements, our library project budget and scope is impacted negatively. We are asking that these infrastructure costs be covered through other City funds. We are also asking the City Council to provide guidance for ways to continue fundraising throughout the project and beyond in order to raise the balance of expected project costs over the City's contribution of $1,000,000. We already have a total of $460,000 in private funds to contribute-- $300,000 from Bunday Library Gift funds and $160,000 in private donations raised since the beginning of our Capital Campaign on September 9. That's terrific! Our Northfield community definitely is invested in this great library service. I am hearing from folks who are writing to their City Councilors to voice their support as well-- thank you all so much for your advocacy-- we will make this happen with your help!