Greenwood may try for FEMA funds for new library

Add the city of Greenwood to the list of local government entities that may try to latch onto Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to solve a local building need. Following the lead of the Spencer, Loyal, Abbotsford and Owen-Withee school districts, Greenwood is also now eyeing a possible FEMA “tornado safe room” grant that would bring in funds for a new municipal library building.

The Greenwood City Council last week met with FEMA grant writing consultant Jordan Buss of Spencer, who has successfully shepherded four school districts through the grant application process in the last two years and has sent in an application for funds for a possible new Loyal school facility. With the backing of its public library board of directors, the city Council will in the next several months take a hard look at applying for a grant that could fetch nearly $2 million to not only replace the city’s 87-year-old library building, but create a storm shelter for the community.

FEMA funding has become a popular local source for facility upgrades in recent years ever since Buss and the Spencer Board of Education on which he sits discovered the disaster mitigation grant program three years ago. Spencer was the first school district to apply, and received an award of almost $3 million to fund a concrete dome that will double as a gymnasium/community fitness center as well as a tornado safe room for the village. The FEMA grant program is designed to help communities build shelters before a disaster such as a tornado hits, rather than pay the high post-disaster costs for non-preparedness.

After Spencer received its grant, Buss formed JBAD Solutions LLC and began private consulting work to write other FEMA grants. He successfully applied for funding for schools in Abbotsford, Owen-Withee and Luck, and submitted an application for Loyal earlier this year. After hearing of those successes, the Greenwood Library Board contacted Buss to initiate talks for a possible grant for Greenwood.

While this would be the first non-school project on which Buss has worked, the criteria would be the same for a city building, he said. If a grant is eventually awarded to the city, FEMA would pay most of the cost of building a storm shelter, and the city could then use it for whatever purposes it chooses but would pay for the interior costs.

Buss said FEMA has two funding levels. One level is to pay 75 percent of the storm shelter costs, but it also has a separate level at which it covers 90 percent for “small, impoverished communities.” Buss told the Greenwood Council last week that he expects Greenwood would qualify for the 90 percent level. A FEMA grant amount would depend on the number of people a shelter would be expected to serve during a natural disaster. Buss has run some preliminary numbers, and found the population to be served would be about 1,031 people, and based on that, FEMA would fund a structure with about 11,275 square feet. At that size, and at 90 percent funding, a grant could approximate $2.1 million, and the city would then be responsible for about $540,000 for its share of the shelter and the interior construction costs. Buss said those figures are a “very preliminary and rough estimate based on previous projects.” If the city is interested, it would need to submit a final application to FEMA by January 2022. It would then be informed by June 2022 if its application is accepted, and would then have three years to finish a project.

The city has taken no action yet, other than to discuss the options with Buss. A city Facilities Committee meeting is to be held soon to talk more.

“There’s a lot of things that need to be talked through,” Mayor Jim Schecklman said at a March 3 Council meeting. “There’s definitely some things to walk through and talk through, that’s for sure. I want the Facilities Committee to weigh in again.”

The Library Board has gone on record in support of pursuing a FEMA grant for a new library facility. FEMA funds for remodeling or adding onto the current library are possible, Buss said, but Library Board members believe a new building

“There’s definitely some things towalkthroughandtalkthrough, that’s for sure.” -- Greenwood Mayor Jim Schecklman makes more sense.

The library is currently located in the 1934 stone construction building on Main Street that also housed City Hall functions until the city bought the former Memorial Medical Center building two years ago and remodeled it for city functions. Library Board members note that Greenwood’s public library is the smallest of the 10 community libraries in Clark County, yet has the fifth highest circulation.

The city had planned to upgrade the library two years ago. It borrowed money to buy and renovate the new city hall building, upgrade the Old Streets of Greenwood museum and remodel library space, but the first two projects cost more than expected and no funds were left for the library. The 1934 building has a list of physical needs that range from windows to exterior problems to a restroom that is not accessible for those with disabilities.

Space is the main concern in the old library. It is spread across several small rooms, with no space large enough to accommodate group activities. Former Library Board member Joyce Rondorf, who still sits on the library’s building needs committee, said the library found out how small it was when COVID-19 hit and social distancing was needed.

“We need space,” she said. “You’ve got to spread people out. We are crowded, very crowded.”

In Greenwood’s library, books are stacked on high shelves that are often beyond people’s reach, because there’s too little floor space to spread them out on lower shelving.

“You don’t see that in other libraries,” Rondorf said. “They don’t have to go to the ceiling like we do.”

Library Director Kim Metzke said patrons have told her that they are using other libraries for programming because Greenwood can’t offer similar things due to space limitations. The largest room in Greenwood’s building has a capacity of 11 people, which precludes programming for children’s group, adult activities, etc.

“That’s what the library is for,” Metzke said. “It’s not just books anymore. It’s for providing opportunities for people.”

Library Board President Cheri Lenz said the group would rather see the city pursue FEMA funds for a new building than try to upgrade the existing one.

“There are things with this building that make it hard to remodel,” she said. “For one thing, there are no parking spots. It would cost so much more.”

The library does have a fund set aside for possible building needs. That fund has enough in it, Lenz said, to buy a piece of property on which to build a library, as well as to pay Buss’ consulting costs. The city has identified a possible property which is not being identified due to price negotiations. Rondorf said it is a “centrally located” property that would be conducive to a library site.

The Council did have discussion of the property purchase on its March 3 agenda, but city policy says such discussions have to start at the Planning Commission level. Also, Schecklman said, the city needs to decide if it is going to pursue a FEMA grant before it moves ahead with property considerations.

Buss said the FEMA grant program is highly flexible. The city could apply, he said, and then back out without penalty even if its application is approved. Also, he said, Greenwood would not have to build a concrete dome structure as the area school districts are. A storm shelter can be of other designs as long as they meet standards for high wind resistance.

“We would tailor the application to meet your exact community needs,” Buss said. “If you don’t go the dome route ... usually it’s pre-cast walls.”

Buss said the city’s next step is to determine its level of interest in an application, and then to define what a building would include. He said he would need to know no later than Dec. 1 if the city plans to move ahead, so he can meet application deadlines.