By Tracy Ouellette
Editor
The East Troy Village Board approved paying for a new, Tri-Troy Library feasibility study at its Feb. 15 meeting meeting. The $9,500 fee will come out of the village’s library impact fee funds.
The Friends of the East Troy Library offered to pay $4,000 of the fee for the study, but the Village Board members said they would prefer the Friends keep their money and for the village to pay the full amount since it has nearly $46,000 in library impact fees available. Recently the village had to refund some library impact fees because they weren’t used in the time frame designated for the spending.
Village Board Trustee Mary Nugent told the board the Friends wanted to show they were willing to help fund the study and work with the village to mitigate the costs.
Trustee Matt Johnson said that while the sentiment was honorable, the village had funds available for the study and the Friends shouldn’t have to shell out any money for the study.
The other board members agreed and pointed out that the Friends might want to use the $4,000 elsewhere in the future to support the library.
The feasibility study will examine the possibility of including the new library in the Kiwanis Heritage Expansion. The proposal, by Kubala Washatko Architects, offers building a 20,000 square-foot, one-story tenant space in the Kiwanis Heritage at 3223 North St., in East Troy.
The Heritage expansion will also include about 22 new residential units, added to the 50 that already exist.
A new library has been something the Tri-Troy Alliance has been discussing for a few years. The Tri-Troy Alliance is made up of representative from the village and town of East Troy and the Town of Troy. A Tri-Troy Library has been favored by the local municipalities, in part because the communities operate together within the East Troy Community School District and a joint library is a logical step since it will serve the entire area and not just one municipality.
For more coverage of the Feb .15 meeting, pick up a copy of the Feb. 19 East Troy Times/News
