Itasca Library repairs bid expected on ballot

Without voter support in February, Itasca Community Library said Tuesday the 12-year-old facility would be forced to close because of mold.

The news came during the village board's committee of the whole meetings where community library officials asked the board to place a question on the Feb. 5 ballot requesting permission for the village to issue $1.75 million in library bonds to the library to remediate water leakage and mold growth.

Because the library is a community library, the village is responsible for maintenance and operating costs.

The village board, which consists of the same members as the committee, is expected to approve placing the question in the ballot at Tuesday's village board meeting.

By merely extending current bonds set to expire in 2012 by another 15 or 20 years, Library Director Betsy Adamowski said the work could be done without the library increasing its current rate.

Engineer Kami Farahmandpour said recent attempts to fix water leaks inside the library found mold growing between the exterior EFIS façade and inside walls. He said the stuccolike façade can resist water on the outside but trouble is caused when water runs and pools behind it. For that reason, several local towns now ban the material.

Farahmandpour said air qualities at the library have tested safe as recently as Oct. 28, but the mold still persists behind the walls. If the voters allow the bond-issuance, the library would be resided and have the windows and roof resealed as early as the spring.

Without the funds, Adamowski said the library would eventually be ruled unsafe and closed because of the expected low air quality if the mold continues to grow and eventually find its way inside the facility.

"We don't want to scare anyone because the library air is safe right now, but we don't know for how long," Adamowski said, pointing out the library was voted one of the most used libraries in the country earlier this summer.

"This town has invested so much into the library, it would be a shame to see the investment go down the tubes."

Voters last approved a tax increase for the library in 1993 that allowed the library to expand at its current location, 500 W. Irving Park Road, to more than 27,000 square feet. The renovated facility was dedicated in September 1995.