Consultants with Shawano County continue to develop plans for what a new public library would look like, but some county supervisors are urging them to take a step back and consider a different path.
Supervisor Joe Miller said that if the city of Shawano is willing to give the county the deed to the parking lot east of the library, and the county acquires the garage on the Bertram Wireless property and the small parking lot from Associated Bank, in his opinion, that should be enough land for the library.
“That would facilitate a significant amount of space for an addition to the current library,” he said at the Oct. 28 county board meeting. “I do not believe tearing down that existing library at any point in time is warranted. Build an addition on the back in that parking lot area.”
He said the city did something similar when it renovated the recreation center in 2025 and 2026,
“I look at what the city did at the rec center,” he said. “They added on to it. They didn’t tear anything down. It’s a beautiful, beautiful building.”
Supervisor Jeremy Gretzinger agreed.
“We need to get something that’s more of a practical thing that can happen,” he said. “Say we get something from the city and some from Associated Bank, like an addition should happen. Maybe we doctor up the building.”
Supervisor Kimberly Leffel, who is also the chair of library board, said that and other options have been discussed at length throughout the past five or six years.
“A few years ago, we did a study what it would cost to renovate vs. build new,” she said. “The cost ended up being about $2 million different; however, it was based on the current site with no other additions to it.”
Prior to discussions about the state of the library, supervisors were scolded for their comments at the September meeting.
Gwen Hoffman referred to discussions about Anita Hartman’s donation to the library upon her death in 2023. The two women were close friends, and Hoffman was Hartman’s power of attorney.
“She was adamant about education, reading and most importantly, providing tools and the opportunity for children to learn,” Hoffman said “As a close friend and her chosen power of attorney while she was alive, Anita trusted me to monitor her finances and work with her financial advisers to keep her affairs in order.”
Hoffman said 90% of Hartman’s assets were bequeathed to charities, including the Shawano County Public Library. Her will did not specify how that donation should be used, Hoffman said.
“Last month at the county board meeting, I listened to board members call her by the wrong name, say that they had read her will and say that they knew her and what she would have wanted. It distressed me,” Hoffman said. “If they really had known her, they would have called her by her correct name, and if they had read her will, I would have known about it, because I am the register in probate, and they would have had to go through my office to read it.
“I’m very disappointed with some of the members of the board to use Anita’s gracious $505,742.72, which was the bequeathed value in 2023, as a point of contention in the advancement and progression of a new library for our families and our children. We were given a gift. Why do you continue to argue about the little things that do not matter? Because you do not like change, or that change happened too swiftly? Change costs money, and future change is not going to be any cheaper.”
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
