This story may be #3 for the year not because of it’s cost or importance, but because we didn’t know until the end of 2018 if the matching grant was going to come through – and it did. Earlier in the year, the city purchased the land for a new library building at 50 Spruce Ave., halfway between Highway 15 and the high school, two doors behind Dingmann Funeral Care. A task force set about raising funds for the project, and architects put together plans for the prairie-style building that would serve as a library, with study areas and ample space for books and staff, and as a community center. Before the grant application was submitted, $560,602 was raised in donations, pledges, and in-kind gifts (such as the architect fees). The grant amount is $439,511. The new building will continue to be part of the Great River Regional Library system which requires the city to own and maintain the building; GRRL will provide the books and materials as well as the staffing. The task force has now been dissolved, and a building committee established to supervise the construction in this new year.
