Tours of new community room & library renovations progress

Six people stand in a row in a room with light-colored walls, holding a red ribbon in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Two tables with colorful tablecloths are in the foreground. All individuals are smiling, wearing casual to business-casual attire.

Doug Uthe, Market President of Peoples Savings Bank cuts the ribbon on the new community room. Peoples Savings Bank gave a generous gift to the project so it will be named the Peoples Savings Bank Community Room. Joining Uthe is the committee members working on the project including Shannon Gebel, Bruce Weigel, Sarah Brophy, Renee Burke and Erin Ludwig.

On Sunday October 17th the community was given the opportunity to tour the new community room and see progress on the library renovations in the former gymnasium.  “The community room is 90 percent done and it was fun to celebrate our progress and also give people the opportunity to visualize what the library will be when done,” shared Renee Burke who has been working on this project along others since 2017 when she was first approached by a city council member to move the library. “I am excited the library, day-care and city clerk’s office will eventually be under one roof.  So convenient!  The larger community room with kitchenette and better Internet access will be wonderful for more diverse programming and community use through the library. Day-care kids will easily be able to utilize the library along with the school kids as the new location is the bus stop for the Howard Winneshiek Community School District and Riceville Community School District.

This handicap accessible room with kitchenette will also be available for community meetings and to rent.  Capacity will be around 50 people. Progress continues on the day-care addition of an infant room. The hope is to have the day-care addition completed later this year and will help alleviate their waiting list.  The community room renovations is the third phase of the Elma Community Complex Project that is being done in phases as funding allows.  The first phase involved the deconstruction of the former brick school building and the second phase was building of the medical clinic building.  The fourth phase has begun which is the addition to the day-care.   “We are in our final phases of fund-raising and asking the community to step up one more time,’ shared Bruce Weigel. “We need about $230,000 to finish the 1.2 million dollar project. Final phases include finishing the day-care addition, library renovation, the exterior of the building and the parking lot.  Thus far we have raised $972,343 ($305,804 from grants, $592,336 from donations, and $74,203 from fundraisers).”

The next fundraiser will be a Chili Cook-off Contest and meal on Sunday, November 21st.  They will also be having a silent auction.  See information on this event below:

For more information on ECC project or to donate, please contact committee members or Shannon Gebel, Elma City Clerk, at 641-393-2543.

Posted: October 22, 2021 in Community Complex
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