Last year in February, we began talking about a possible renovation for the Adrian Branch Library. Of course, at that time, my boss, Nobles County Library Director Clint Wolthuizen, and I were hoping to be completely done by the end of 2016.
Clearly, we had no idea how long it takes to put something like this together, raise money, work with architects, getting permission from the County Commissioners through each step of the process, as required by law, etc. This has been a learning experience for us!
On Thursday, January 12, 2017, there was a meeting at the courthouse for the reading of the bids. Now that all interested contractors have submitted bids, the next week or so will be spent going over those bids, and the County Commissioners will make a decision on January 24, 2017. Once that is done, it is my understanding there will be some paperwork to finalize, then the demo can begin. (From what I understand, “demo” means to clear out anything left in the Library that needs to be addressed before the floor can be removed.) At that point, the renovation will begin. We are hoping that this will take place in early February and, to be honest, it really looks as if that could happen.
On Wednesday, January 18, 2017, the Adrian High School Senior High students will be carrying books from the Library, to our temporary location at 100 East 1st Street (where New Vision Coop is located, in the former Hardware Store, which before then was the former Lumber Yard). We will open in that location on Monday, January 23, 2017.
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