The City of Fremont was not awarded a critical $1.125 million grant from the State of Nebraska which would have helped fund more than 10% of the costs of renovations and expansions at Keene Memorial Library.
Following a tip from several sources, the Tribune made a public records request for any communications from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development to the city’s grant coordinator, Angie Olson.
Among the documents provided to the Tribune in response to the request was an email from Susan Nickerson, Civic and Community Center Financing Fund program coordinator for the state DED, dated March 31, 2023, informing city officials that their grant application for the library expansion project had been rejected.
“Your application was not accepted for an award,” Nickerson wrote to the city. “A committee reviewed 42 applications amounting to over $16.4 million in requested aid. This was a highly competitive application cycle. Many worthy projects could not receive CCCFF aid this year, including yours.”
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Olson forwarded that email to numerous library and city officials, writing that the decision to reject the city’s application was, “a real bummer.”
The state awarded CCCFF capital project grants totaling about $4 million, to the cities of Bassett, Imperial, McCook, Waverly, Wayne and Wood River, with each receiving $562,000.
The Keene library opened at its current location in 1971, but more than 50 years of use, wear and tear and natural aging of the facility prompted the city to embark on an ambitious renovation and expansion project.
The goal of the project including preserving the historical quality of the building while also almost doubling the usable space. Improved Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility, updated technology infrastructure and a dedicated computer lab were also planned.
The estimated $9.4 million project was designed by Spangenberg Phillips Tice (SPT) Architects of Wichita and is being constructed by MCL Construction of Omaha.
Keene Memorial Library Director Laura England-Biggs said on Tuesday, May 30, that the city had requested $1.125 million in grant funding in their seven-part application to the state for the CCCFF funds.
England-Biggs said the rejection of their funding request was, “very disappointing.”
“It sets us back, but we are continuing to do what we need to do,” she said in regard to the ongoing construction at the library site. “(The state) had more requests than they had funds. I believe that is the reason why we were not selected.”
The library expansion has an estimated price tag of $9.4 million.
In January, England-Biggs sent an email to several city officials and Keene Memorial Library Advisory Board President Linda McClain with a pie-chart showing that $7,624,048 in funds had been secured.
Of those funds, $2,394,500 was listed as being derived from “private/foundation grants.” It is not known whether or not the CCCFF grant was part of that total.
England-Biggs said the rejected grant funds create a problem with the funding of the library expansion, and said she, library board members and city officials are working on ideas to find and secure the $1.125 million they had asked for in the grant but did not receive.
“We are not sure yet how we will make up the difference,” she said.
Library officials have worried about project funding
The application for the CCCFF grant submitted by the city to the state in mid-February included seven documents, one of which was described as “Readiness and Local Public Support” of the city’s library. The full application was discussed and formulated over at least four meetings from Jan. 20 through Feb. 15.
Other application files included explanations of the library project the city’s comprehensive plan as well as Visitor Impact and Resident Impact analyses and a Project Planning explanation.
Prior to submitting the grant application, on Feb. 9, 2023, Olson wrote to England-Biggs, McClain and other city officials that the “Readiness and Local Support” document needed to be, “revisited” before the application was submitted six days later.
Olson also told the group that as part of the “Readiness and Local Support” document, she needed letters of support from the community, which were described as needing to be, “quality letters that support the project,” from community members and others.
While England-Biggs said she did not know any specific reason why the city’s grant was rejected, in January, concerns were voiced among city and library officials about the effect of the controversy over sexual education and LGBTQ-themed books in the library on library expansion project fundraising, according to emails obtained by the Fremont Tribune at the time.
As part of news coverage of the book removal efforts led by local activist Sandra Murray, the Tribune had made a public records request to the city seeking communications about the book banning effort between city and library officials.
In response to the request, city officials provided the Tribune with dozens of pages of documents which detail various aspects of the response to the book controversy.
In an email three days after Murray’s first complaints about books at the Dec. 27 city council meeting, Keene Memorial Library Advisory Board President Linda McClain wrote to two library researchers who were working on an article for Public Libraries Magazine.
McClain told the duo that she and England-Biggs had raised almost $4 million for the library expansion project themselves.
“I don’t know what the future holds in regard to this recent (book) challenge. Am I looking forward to it? No,” McClain wrote. “I hate that this issue will take away from all of the momentum and positive energy we’ve created around our library recently.”
In a telephone interview in January, Murray said she believed many donors to the library expansion project were unaware of what she calls sexually explicit and inappropriate adult and LGBTQ+ books available in the library. Murray said donors need to be aware of what they are giving money to.
“Our biggest thing is we want the community to realize what is in their library. Especially the people who donate to (the library) and do not realize what they are donating to,” Murray said. “They are big donors.”
England-Biggs said in a January interview she was unaware of attempts to affect potential library donors or supporters, but noted that fundraising is always a concern.
“I am worried about fundraising all of the time, I don’t know if I am worried about this (book issue) affecting it,” she said.
$2 million library bond funds almost used up
During the May 30 meeting of the Fremont City Council, Ward 2 Council Member Glen Ellis and Ward 1 Council Member Paul Von Behren asked City Administrator Jody Sanders for an update on the status of the library construction funds in light of the loss of the grant.
“With us missing out on the grant, I’m not clear where we are with the funding,” Von Behren said. “Are there outstanding items?”
Sanders told the council that current construction costs were being paid out of the $2 million library bond, however she noted that “we’re getting close to (having spent) that $2 million,” on the contract.
The construction on library is in the middle stages of what was expected to be 14 months of work, which has a projected completion date of late November 2023. The groundbreaking for the construction was hosted on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2022.
The renovation and expansion project is being partly funded by donations from the public, a $2 million city bond; grant monies and other sources of revenue such as a commemorative brick project.
The renovated and expanded library will have designated areas for adults, teens and children, expanded community meeting room space and an outdoor courtyard. It is scheduled to reopen in late November barring any delays in construction.