No Bids Received on Former Library Building

The bid opening at a special meeting of the Effingham Public Library Board this week was short...no bids were received to open.

The Board had set a minimum acceptable bid price of $375,000 for the former library home on Market Avenue. Library Director Amanda McKay has said there has been interest in the facility, but now that no bids were received, board members will revisit the issue and decide how to proceed.

At the library board's regular monthly meeting, there was discussion of another potential tenant in the basement of the current library location on 3rd Street. CEFS Economic Opportunity Corporation is interested in leasing space for its literacy program. If funding can be finalized, the literacy program would join Webster and Associates as a tenant in the building.

The Library Board voted to up the number of video games and TV series that could be checked out at one time to four items per library card. McKay said the cost of the items was once too high to risk loss of the items, which is why the number of items that could be checked out at one time had been at two. She said, though, that the cost has come down and loss of items has not been as great as had been feared, so the four item limit is now in place.

The Board awarded its janitorial contract to ESS of Effingham, and discussed the lack of a state budget. The lack of a budget could affect whether the library receives its promised share of personal property replacement tax revenue. McKay said the same situation existed a year ago and the library ended up receiving more money than had first been expected, so no moves will be taken at present to adjust the library budget.