The project comes with a $1.6 million price tag tentatively placed by building architect Denny Sharp.

The proposed expansion would include a multi-purpose room dedicated to teenagers. The youth room would feature 1,900 square feet of meeting space, lounging and study space. The project concept showed a utilization of modern furniture and a six-screen setup for multiplayer video games. Sharp said the room would be set up for maximum flexibility.

“What we’ve done is we’ve worked through a process with the library staff and the library to analyze the existing building, kind of take a look at what the needs are in the building and come up with some general conceptual ideas,” Sharp said.

He said total construction costs for the building estimate would be $1.287 million, with the projected full cost being $1.672 million which includes a 3-5 percent margin of error. Project costs were reduced by the exclusion of a lactation room from projected numbers due to funding from 100 Women Who Care.

Architect Denny Sharp discusses the proposed expansion at the Marshalltown Public Library Thursday night.

City Administrator Jessica Kinser provided the library with three options for city contributions to the project’s funding:

• A general obligation debt

• Tax increment financing

• Council-designated LOST (Local Option Sales Tax).

The general obligation debt would not be able to exceed $700,000 without a referendum being held, Kinser said.

A layout of the proposed youth room expansion for the Marshalltown Public Library presented by Denny Sharp during Thursday’s joint work session with City Council and the library.

The tax increment financing would come from the Urban Renewal Plan, which Kinser said had a cash balance of roughly $215,000. However, she said there is a likelihood of an MCBO face grant request. The council-designated LOST has a cash balance of roughly $1 million, but Kinser added that it would be a possible source of funding for tornado and Coliseum expenses.

“I really think what’s going to drive the council contribution is how much the Friends of the Library and Sarah [Rosenblum] believe can be brought in by fundraising,” Kinser said.

Friends of the Library President Jeff Hutton said the group was ready to donate around $500,000 to aid the expansion – $15,000 of which went to funding the design of expansion concepts.

“That’s what we’re at right now,” Hutton said.

Kinser said the council would need to decide whether it would support the project and show commitment to making clear what date its funding would be available.

“If this is going to be something that would happen in the fiscal year that starts on July 1, we need to be planning for that right now,” Kinser said.

The session opened with a history of the building from the library director Sarah Rosenblum.

With a decent attendance from the public, Rosenblum gave her recap of the history to a full room. Joa LaVille, the library’s youth services manager, focused on the challenges of providing opportunities for youths in the community in their own space. LaVille also pointed to the large meeting room demand in the library – due in part to the library’s success – as a reason for expansion.

She was adamant that a designated space for tweens and teenagers in the library would have a positive effect, particularly with the rise of collaborative gaming among teenagers.

“We have to maintain an all-ages environment in the youth department,” LaVille said. “Some of it is just things that are normal is not going to necessarily go with a five-year-old.”

She also cited the additional help a teen-designated space could have on youths who are at-risk, with mental health awareness and a safe place.

In final remarks, council member Gary Thompson expressed his support for the proposal with passion.

“There’s a lot of things the library does in this community that fall below the radar,” Thompson said. “It isn’t just books. I’m 100 percent behind this addition.”

The next Marshalltown City Council meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

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Contact Noah Rohlfing

at 641-753-6611 or

nrohlfing@timesrepublican.com