BY ANGELA WRIGHT
Eudora voters will soon decide whether to raise property taxes to build a new public library in the city.
Library Director Carol Wohlford said she hopes a bond issue referendum will go to voters either this fall or next spring. If it passes, construction would begin soon after in the empty lot across East Ninth Street.
Wohlford said lack of room in the current 2,500-square foot library, building deterioration and noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act are among the reasons a new building is needed.
“The city has grown so much and changed so much that the library has got to become more sophisticated and technologically advanced,” Wohlford said. “People in Eudora are looking for a community hub where they can gather and discuss and play with the children and just have a place to call their own.”
The library at 14 E. Ninth St. was built in 1976. Since then, the city’s population has more than doubled, according to Census data.
Alisha Whitis, the library’s assistant director, said there were nearly 46,000 visits to the Eudora library in 2018.
Potential features for a new library include a community room for special events, separate sections for adults, children, young adults and seniors, a larger computer lab, an art gallery with local artists’ contributions, two study rooms for quiet activities, a processing room and an area for inter-library loans, Wohlford said.
Additionally, she said the plan includes the original library being repurposed as a maker space, which she hopes will be a place for a sound-proof room and more technology the community would want, like 3-D printers and sewing machines.
Wohlford said she estimates the cost of the new building will be between $3 million to $4 million.
Library Board President Eric Magette said about $400,000 has been raised thus far, with a goal to raise $1 million in private donations and then to collect the rest from tax revenue.
Magette said the board slowed down fundraising because of an issue with Kansas law and taxes within the city and township of Eudora. The issue was a loophole that classified Eudora as a second-class city and made the Eudora township separate from the city in taxes.
Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, introduced a bill to address this and allow for the creation of a joint community library district and board. The proposal became law earlier this month. Holland did not return calls for comment.
Magette said he wanted to make sure taxpayers thought the board handled the bond proposal transparently, so he slowed down fundraising to allow for the law to pass.
“Any time you ask people to go to the voting booth and vote to raise their taxes, that’s a hard ask and we want to only have to do that once,” Magette said.
Jeni Eggers of Lawrence visits the Eudora library about once a week and said she looks forward to the possibility of new materials and facilities in a future building.
“I’m excited for them to see how the library grows,” Eggers said.
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