Colfax Public Library awarded $10,000 American Library Association grant
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Public Library has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the American Library Association to install a handicapped accessible door on the west end of the ramp going into the Colfax Municipal Building.
Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, informed the Colfax Village Board that the library had been awarded the grant at the March 11 meeting.
Jolene Albricht, youth services librarian, and Lisa Bragg-Hurlburt, director of the Colfax Public Library, talked about receiving the grant in a video they posted online March 7.
“It’s not everything we need here, but it’s a start,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.
“The door we have now is so rusted out on the bottom, and it’s hard to pull open and shut because it’s so heavy, and not just for wheelchair users,” Albricht said.
“We need something better, and thanks to this grant, we’ll get it,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.
Before the handicapped accessible door can be installed, the library staff is required to fulfill several requirements.
“To start out, I have to take some classes to learn more about accessibility needs and how to talk to people about that … the second part of the grant requires that I just don’t try to guess what people need. This grant requires that I reach out and talk to people with mobility issues,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.
“We will set up community meetings and learn about the challenges people have with our current set-up and hear their ideas about what could make it better,” she said.
“I’m looking forward to having those conversations with people. We will let everyone know as soon as we schedule the talking sessions,” Bragg-Hurlburt said.
In addition to installing an automated door, the grant also will be used to make some improvements to the ramp.
To be compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act, ramps must have a 1:12 ratio, which means there must be a one-inch rise in the ramp for every corresponding 12 inches of the ramp.
The Libraries Transforming Communities grant was intended by the American Library Association to help libraries in small and rural communities become more accessible.
Bragg-Hurlburt says she has finished the second of four 90-minute on-line classes about accessibility.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Village Board:
• Approved a facility rental, with a waiver of the fee, at the Colfax Fairgrounds for the pavilion and the FFA buildings August 30 and 31 for the Colfax Railroad Museum for a model train show and sale.
• Learned that the bid opening for the Balsam Street project will be April 5 and that the bids will come to the village board for consideration at the April 8 meeting.
• Approved a landfill monitoring agreement with Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc. in the amount of $4,300.
• Approved a cost share request for a sidewalk for Stewart Lepinitz, 512 Pine Street, in the amount of $2,100 (40 percent of the village’s share) and $3,150 for the landowner’s share (60 percent) with the village’s reimbursement to be paid in 2025, allowing the village to add the reimbursement to the 2025 budget.
• Approved a request from the Department of Public Works to hold an auction of surplus items this summer. The last auction of surplus items was in 2013, said Rand Bates, director of public works. There are many bicycles that have accumulated, along with other items, that will be on display in the cold storage area of the DPW building on Railroad Avenue so people will be able to put in their bids, he said, adding that there is a long list of items for the auction.
• Learned that there is a Flexible Facilities grant program opportunity that will be funded with leftover Covid money. Grant awards will be up to $4.25 million, and the village could apply for a grant for the municipal building project. Wisconsin will be allocated $189 million for the grant program that is intended for libraries and community centers.
• Approved writing off checks that the village has issued but that have not been cashed in the amount of $57.80 to the Aramark Uniform Service; and $130 and $120 to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.