Lakewood library expansion gets mixed reaction

A divided Oconto County Board has approved using $300,000 of its federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to support a major expansion of the Lakes Country Public Library in Lakewood.

Supervisors voted 19-10 on July 21 to pledge the donation out of the county’s $7,367,458 ARPA allocation.

Lakes Country Library Board member Tom Thielke told the board the planned $1.2 million project would slightly more than double the library’s current footprint. The 3,066-square-foot structure would get a 3,132-square-foot addition with meeting rooms and improved internet access.

Erik Pritzl, county administrator, said the agreement to include the county’s ARPA allocation was the result of “multiple meetings and discussion.”

Lakes Country Public Library serves the towns of Townsend, Lakewood, Doty and Riverview with circulation numbers that were the greatest of the six libraries in the county last year — including the local libraries in Oconto and Oconto Falls, the county’s two largest cities, Thielke said.

With internet access still a major challenge in northern Oconto County, Thielke said the Lakewood library is a hub for the community.

“Our parking lot is often filled even when we’re not open because people can use the Wi-Fi services,” Thielke said.

The library is a resource for students, including the large number of homeschooled children in the area. Thielke noted that there is no school from Suring to Wabeno or from White Lake to Wausaukee, Crivitz or Lena.

Parents “start them homeschooling early because they don’t want to put their kids on a bus at 6 or 6:30 in the morning and not see them until late,” he said.

Pritzl told supervisors the county’s share of the project will not be released until documentation is in place for the rest of the project.

Library board member Kathleen Marsh told the board that two “angel investors” are prepared to finish the project once fundraising reaches 50% of the needed costs.

“The commitment of our group is … the library will be built and we will have the funding,” Marsh said.

County Board Chairman Al Sleeter said the county’s interest is protected in the wording of the resolution.

“If they don’t get the rest of the money, then they don’t get our money, either,” Sleeter said.

The project sparked discussion of a related issue. Lakewood is one of several local libraries that have reorganized as joint library systems, with surrounding towns contributing to the operation of a central library.

Supervisor Pat Scanlan said that arrangement exempts those towns from the requirement to pay the exorbitant charge that Brown County levies against the county for the use of its libraries by Oconto County residents.

Years ago, all 23 towns agreed to spread the cost of the levy, but since then 12 towns have opted out and funded their local libraries, leaving the other 11 towns to pay Brown County’s bill. Scanlan said that is not a sustainable arrangement.

“I think it’s safe to say that this funding mechanism is going to have to change,” Scanlan said.

Sleeter said the county board will need to have a discussion about whether to go to a countywide system, which would also exempt the county from the Brown County charge. In the past, the six local libraries have resisted establishing a county system in the name of local autonomy.

Sleeter voted to support the Lakewood funding along with Supervisors Jolene Barkhaus, Don Bartels Jr., David Behrend, Judy Buhrandt, David Christianson, Tim Cole, Guy Gooding, Carol Heise, Stephanie Holman, Wayne Kaczrowski, Dennis Kroll, John Matravers, Doug McMahon, Char Meier, Richard Pillsbury, Bart Schindel, Keith Schneider and Al Schreiber.

Scanlan voted against the plan, as did Supervisors Chris Augustine, Tom Bitters, Brandon Dhuey, Joel Lavarda, Tracy Ondik, David Parmentier, Theresa Willems, John Wittkopf and Robert Wolf. Supervisor Gary Frank was absent, and Supervisor Elmer Ragen abstained.