Building Needs and Expansion

We gave a expansion project update to the City Council on April 7, 2026. Video is on YouTube is you want to watch/listen.

Kevin Eipperle, our architect from FEH Design, gave a description on the latest floor plan and pointed out a few features. I’ll note we did cover everything in deep, deep detail. The construction documents are about ready to go for bid and contain all that detail.

Here is out most recent Budget Opinion provided by FEH on March 31: March 31, 206 Budget Opinion Update. To save money on inflation we continue to move the project forward with a construction start in August or September. The LIbrary Board has held to a $5,000,000 budget based on 2025 dollars. The current opinion is at $5,096,921. We are still within budget after applying inflation percentages.

We have two sizes of outdoor pavers available for naming rights. The large and small sizes are $500 and $250, respectively. The pavers will be used outside the expansion between the building and parking area.

Our latest naming recognition document (April 12, 2026) is on the front page of the website.

We are announcing several major gifts to the capital campaign.

Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation pledged $250,000.

Lake Mills EMS donated $100,000.

100 Extraordinary campaign raised $156,000.

Bank of Lake Mills is gifting $50,000

Attaching scans of the plans we reviewed January 22,

• Site Plans January 22, 2026
• Plans January 22, 2026
• Mechanical Plans January 22, 2026

Some updates over the past month.

• FEH Design completed their Design Development design and documents.
  • Our latest opinion on probable cost came in higher than expected. The Design Development provides more detailed information for a more accurate price estimate. We are working on cutting the construction back by deciding what can be removed or delayed as a future enhancement.
  • Moving off-site will reduce construction time and save money. There are few properties available in Lake Mills that can accommodate a library. The Library Board has been contacting different property owners about availability and suitability.
• We are in the Construction Documents phase. The 25% meeting is being held today, January 22.
• FEH Design staff are working with library staff on interior furnishings. This includes lighting, cabinets, colors, carpet, artwork, desks, Children’s Area sound abatement features, and more.
• The Capital Campaign Committee will present to City Council in February with a project update. Fundraising continues and will transition from focusing on larger gifts to smaller gifts. Typically, 80% of funds are gifted by 20% of the donors. We first focus on those 20% of donors and then reach out to the rest of the community.

• Last Thursday was the 80% Design Development meeting to discuss design process. Here is the PDF file of the booklet: L.D Fargo 80 percent design development

  I’ll put the documents on the library website later today. Some discussion points were:

  • Pursuing research and testing for a geothermal system. Rebates are available from 30-50% Our architect is confident we would recover 40% of the cost. Costs include design and equipment and installation. There are extra costs to going with geothermal but the rebate will cover those costs. Those rebates are still in effect and not being cancelled like solar.
  • Speaking of solar, we are interested in installing panels on the new building. There will be a lot of square footage and and no overhead obstructions for panels. An aside: LMASD’s elementary school solar project is expected to save $3.5 million over the life of the system. That’s a very different project and a much bigger building than the library. But, interesting to hear.
  • We discussed sound abatement for the study and meeting rooms.
  • The parking area had to change to allow enough space for storm water detention.
  • Newest and latest opinion of probable cost will be at the December 18 meeting for 100% design development. [This past Thursday I kept asking “Cost will go down, right? Right? Maybe?”]
  • Discussion of donations to the capital campaign as well as possible in-kind donors for construction.

Both the capital campaign and the building design are moving along.

Capital Campaign.

We have had some big recent success with several large gifts. We continue to reach out to prospective donors and are talking to both businesses and individuals. Some recent successes include:

• Bank of Lake Mills, $50,000
• Lake Mills Area Community Foundation, $100,000.
• Ferguson Family, $100,000.
• Nancy Lange, $35,000.
• Anonymous Family, $100,000.
• Anonymous Family, $50,000.
• Erwin Famly, $10,000.

Building Design

Our 60% meeting for design development with FEH Design was last night. The meeting covered a lot of ground and included a discussion on what heating and cooling system to pursue. Last week Focus on Energy presented their numbers that used the design development plans to estimate energy usage and the costs and paybacks on different heating and cooling systems. The choice is between VRF (variable refrigerant flow) and GeoThermal wells. GeoThermal has a higher up front cost but includes a substantial rebate on the cost. That rebate includes not just the cost of equipment and installation but all the design and research fees for the work. We could possibly get $300,000 back at the end of the project. The Library Board needs to vote on moving forward with a GeoThermal test drill and will do that on December 4th.

• Exterior elevations on pages A4.1 and A4.2
• Creative play 3D mock-ups on page A7.3.
• Flooring on page A9.1.
• Furniture floor plan on page A10.1

Two big news items.

1: The Schematic Design has been completed. This is the PDF of the booklet from FEH Design. The Schematic Design is a big step in the design process. It fleshes out the floor plan and includes actual “construction stuff” such as Roof and Code plans.

2: Our Capital Campaign Committee is actively working to secure funding. We are pursuing several large donations from individuals, organizations, businesses, and private foundations. I’m not going to announce any awards until the Committee is ready. We will not make premature announcements. Agreements will be in place before any public – or private – statements on giving. Fundraising has been going well.

2.B: There are naming opportunities available to donors. Just this week another opportunity was reserved by a donor. This document will be updated on a regular basis as donors commit to the project.

The project is moving along.

Staff and Library Board met this past week to review and revise the floor plans. This is part of the schematic design process. These architects have a short explanantion of each step in the designing and building process. Once the Schematic design is complete, FEH and the library will work on the design development phase.

See the images to the side? THEY ARE CONCEPTUAL. Details have yet to be decided and added. THE PLANS WILL CHANGE AND IMPROVE. We are regularly reviewing and altering the plans.

There is a lot of give and take in the process. Part of the discussion last week was how to otherwise arrange the Children’s Area to have a larger creative play space on one end of the room while also make a space for elementary and tween aged children on the other end. We also discussed adding storage space inside the new meeting room and how to arrange the Adult Collection.

The Library Director (Me) has been slow on giving an update here.

• FEH Design has a new and more detailed floor plan for the one-story addition to the North of the building. Images are to the right.
• Most of our budget is being spent on construction of the new square footage. Our focus is on Children’s Area and meeting space. The new Children’s area will take about half the new square footage (plus a bit more square feet dedicated to programming space within the new meeting room). Smaller meeting and study rooms will be remodeled into the exisitng first floor building.
• The basement level will be closed off for Library storage and use by the Friends of the Library and Lake Mills Aztalan Historical Society. Closing off the basement means the two floor holes we now have will be filled.
• Library Hall will remain mostly the same.

Our capital Campaign Campaign Committee has been doing a lot of work since the City Council vote on August 5, 2025. The Committee is working with several prospective donors and setting a timeline for starting the campaign.

To the side is a PNG copy of last night’s City Council resolution in support of the Library’s expansion project.

Our Capital Campaign committee will scheduling a meeting to prepare and launch the full capital campaign.

Every donation will be doubled by the City up to the top limit of $2,500,000.

The City Council passed a resolution to spend up to $2,500,000 of matching funds to the library expansion project. Not to exceed over 50% of the project cost.

The City Council meeting on August 5, 2025 includes a resolution to committing $2,500,000 towards the building project. Last month’s meeting had some good questions from Council and we put together some additional information. The two docs on this update cover some of the questions about what is being gained our lost when changing from the two-story to one-story plan.

Meanwhile, I spent some time this afternoon in the back parking lot measuring out and roughly marking where the proposed walls will go. You can go check it out if you like except most marks are on the grass and won’t last that long. I made the marks for my own benefit more than any one else. I can more fully imagine the space when outside and looking at the marks of the exterior walls.

Some more notes:

• I was happy about the possibility that the library could stay open for most of the construction process. After meeting with the architects on Wednesday I am not certain that can happen. The architects said doing the project in two phases – 1. build new space then move out of old space and into new space, 2. renovate old space and then move back – can end up costing an estimated $140,000. We would still have to find a suitable off-site location. Also, staying in the building during construction necessitates multiple closed days for utility cut-offs and other issues.
• There will not be a through driveway from Madison St to Oak St. Entry and parking will be off Oak St.
• We haven’t been able to fit in a drive-up bookdrop. We’ll have a book drop-off by the Oak St entry that feeds inside the building.

I’ve tried to repeat, that the project:

• Has a $4.5 million budget (in 2025 dollars).
• Will focus on improving the Children’s Area and creating meeting space.
• The design will change may times over with improvement and budget limits.

Well, our focus on keeping the project affordable meant we had to go with a different design. With inflation and construction realities we could not keep the two-story design within the $4.5 million budget. FEH Proposed that we reconsider a one-story design to the north that would be less expensive and provide more square footage than the tw0-story plan. The latest design iteration is posted to the side.

The 100 Extraordinary Women group has raised over $150,000.

Our capital campaign will roll out in a bit.

We are awaiting official word from City Council on a capital funding commitment.

FEH Design is reworking some design features and identifying several ways we can, again, scale back to project to keep the budget at $4.5 million.

We are still communicating with local foundations and individuals about helping fund the project.

FEH met with staff a couple weeks ago to continue to refine the expansion’s design. FEH also made revisions on the roof and interior to distinguish between the historic building and the addition.

These revisions are part of the schematic design that will be shown on February 27 at 6PM in the library. Here is a partially finished view of the exterior as seen from the Oak Street side.

FEH Design visited the library yesterday for further refinement and study of the latest plans. FEH is working on the schematic design to have it ready by our public information meeting on February 27. We have another info meeting this Sunday, Feb 16 at 1PM here in the library. The library’s front and side doors will be locked for the Sunday meeting. Please come through the rear entry off the parking lot.

The will the most recent floor-plans – ready this Friday – will be available at the Sunday meeting. Our other information session dates are:

Fancy New Floor Plans!

Library staff made a grant request presentation to the Greater Watertown Community Health Foundation (GWCHF) on Friday, January 31. The GWCHF has been a fantastic supporter of early literacy and school readiness in Dodge and Jefferson Counties. A SIGNIFICANT amount of brain development happens from ages 0 to 5 and both GWCHF and the Library actively work on encouraging early literacy and school readiness. Adults and caregivers are a child’s first teachers. Reading and talking with children is an important component of that brain growth. Sharing books and attending story times teach a lot of skills parents may not be aware of.

Our proposed expansion takes the Children’s Area out of the cellar and into a new and larger space with a dedicated play area and programming room. This is a big deal. Space provides extra opportunities for children and families to stay in the library. Space to provide educational and creative play materials. Space to dedicate to Children’s programming like story times, play groups, crafts, and more.

We will hear back from GWCHF about our request. We asked for a lot of money to support our proposed Children’s Area – twice as big! – but not might hear back until February or March. The response timeline likely depends on how often their Board meets.

Meanwhile, our advisory referendum is coming up on April 1. The Advisory referendum is for City of Lake Mills residents to vote on whether the City should spend up to $2.5 million towards the project. We have a page with more referendum information.

The library now has a webpage for information regarding the upcoming referendum. That webpage will have regular updates about the project and answer your questions.

We have had several commitments and gifts to our capital campaign. Including a pledge by the Friends of the Library to match their $40,000 gift used for the 2014 renovation.

We are scheduling some information sessions for the public:

• FEH Design will present the evening of February 27th with the new schematic design.
• Aztalan and Lake Mills Historical Society will present a history of the library on March 17.
• Library Open House on Saturday, March 22 at 10AM.

As of January 15, 2025.

At their January 7, 2025 meeting the City Council approved resolution 25-01 (first resolution of 2025) to place an advisory referendum on the April 1, 2025 ballot.

As mentioned before, an advisory referendum is required by City ordinance for building projects funded with $500,000 of City funds. With this big step forward in City support – No funding is promised or guaranteed – we will begin to ramp up more of our capital campaign and begin informing the residents of the City of Lake Mills about the project, it’s benefits, and costs. We are thinking years forward for both costs and benefit.

For example, the increased square footage is a benefit with enhanced and improved programming opportunities, additional shelving to build the collection, and new study/meeting spaces. But, increased square footage means increased costs for cleaning costs and increased staffing.

More information is forthcoming. I just need to get everything typed up and presented in an FAQ. Speaking of which, how do you pronounce “FAQ”? Do you say each letter separately? Or do you say “fack”?

At tonight’s City Council meeting the Library is requesting the Council pass a resolution to include an advisory referendum on the ballot for the Spring election on April 1, 2025. The April referendum would request public approval for the borrowing and expenditure of up to $2,500,000 for the Library expansion. City ordinance requires an advisory referendum for any building projects over $500,000.

We are making our request in early January, 2025 because April 1 is the only scheduled election for 2025. Referendum language has to be submitted by January 21, 2025. If we miss the January 21 deadline the next opportunity for a referendum is over a year away.

Delaying the referendum by a year means, effectively, delaying the capital campaign’s success by a year. The capital campaign will rely on City support. Donors want to know that City funding supports the project budget.

Does this Council resolution or April referendum vote guarantee funds? Nope. But, the referendum’s results in April deliver information the Council needs to plan City finances and capital planning. The April election also provides Council several months leadway before July and August’s in-depth Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget discussions.

Some important notes:

• This January Council resolution is not a commitment by City Council to borrow money for the project.
• Funding would not be needed until the 2027 or 2028 CIP budgets.
• A year long delay on a referendum vote is a yearlong wait on construction. The longer we wait to build, the more expensive the project will become.

Fundraising is going well.

The 100 Extraordinary Women (100EW) project has tallied about $60,000 in donations and pledges. The 100EW project keeps growing and gaining momentum. Want to join? Great. Follow the link to the webpage donation. Or, print the pledge form and mail or drop-off a check.

100EW is built so that most people can participate. Pledges are spread over five years and average about $17 a month.

100EW is the first step in our capital campaign. Building enthusiasm and showing success with 100EW is a step into the rest of the campaign. If Council approves the referendum resolution request the capital campaign planning committee will meet and finalize their work.

Fundraising progress

• The 100 Extraordinary Women is successfully moving forward. We now have 14 donors with more people being recruited or pledging to the campaign. We also have a $10,000 challenge donation.
• There is a very possible large donation of about $500,000 coming in 2025.
• We have a recent donation of $100,000.
• I am working on five grant requests and will be submitting more.

City Funding

• The City’s Common Council previously pledged capital spending was dependent on the Library being awarded a grant from State of Wisconsin. The grant application was declined. Having City funding is key to both fundraising and project success. Local donors need to know that the Common Council and City Administration are financially committed to the expansion project. Fundraising will struggle to succeed without a City commitment.
• The Library Board passed a resolution on December 16 formally requesting that the City of Lake Mills Common Council place a advisory referendum question on the April 1, 2025 Spring ballot to seek the public’s opinion on a $2.5M contribution from the City of Lake Mills to a $4.5M L.D. Fargo library building expansion project. This resolution will be on the Common Council’s January 7, 2025 agenda.
  • There are some key points about this request:
    • Our request is NOT a request that the Common Council commit to any financing of the project. For the project to keep moving forward we need to have the referendum for public input. This will be the single opportunity in 2025.
    • The ask in January is because of the elections calendar and that public funding will drive private fundraising.
    • There is no Fall election planned. By local ordinance, capital expenses of this size need to go to an advisory referendum. The only opportunity in 2025 is the Spring ballot (no one is willing to pay a few thousand dollars to host a special election).
    • Ballot language needs to be submitted 75 days prior to the election which necessitates a Council decision in early January.
    • The ongoing capital campaign plans to raise $1.5 million. That large of a campaign takes at least 18 months. The full capital campaign rolls out in 2025 and, therefore, will not be complete until July or August, 2026. The library project would not go on the capital expenditure budget until 2027 or 2028.
    • The longer we wait to build, the more expansive the project will become.
• Do we want City capital support for expansion? Of course. The ballot decision will be April 1st and the Council and Administration have time to include library expansion in capital budgeting discussions early in the year, and before capital budget discussions begin in earnest in July.

Architectural and Design

FEH Design is reworking the floor plans after the library staff’s notations and changes. They will have a fresh floor-plan ready by the January 7 Common Council meeting.

FEH Design visited the library on November 13 for a two-hour design session with library staff, Library Board, and City building maintenance staff.

The design session focused on how to allocate additional square footage to library services and refining the floor-plan. A decent chunk of the new square footage is taken up for stairs, toilet rooms, and mechanical equipment. The updated plan places an emphasis on expanding the Children and Teen spaces and much of the new additional space is dedicated to those sections. We also have several private meeting areas (most are four-person rooms), a quiet room, and expanded meeting space.

Keep in mind: PLANS WILL UPDATE AND CHANGE.

We have a follow-up meeting with FEH the week of November 17 for FEH to supply updated computer renderings. I will share those updated plans here on the website.

Keep in mind: PLANS WILL UPDATE AND CHANGE.

[No one brought donuts to the meeting. I walked to work, otherwise I could have made a quick trip to Kwik Trip.]

The Library Board has set a $4.5M budget for our building project. $4,500,000 is an achievable funding goal with a capital campaign, City funds, and support from local foundations.

Unfortunately, the restricted budget means we have to restrict project size. Our original goal was to double the square footage and add multiple study and meeting spaces. 4.5 million bucks is not enough money to double our space.  The new plan does increase our square footage and upgrades the Children’s area with a move from the lower level into a brand new, and more spacious area. The redesign also includes new study and meeting space.

$4.5M allows us to add a second-floor to the existing first-floor sections and blend that new second floor into the existing second-floor. The Northeast corner of the building will be pushed out about ten feet. We’ve asked the architects to also enclose the open space on the West side of the library between the 1902 original and 1966 addition. That change is not reflected in the preliminary drawings to the right.

Bummer News:

The Flexible Facilities Program (FFP) program denied our grant application to expand and renovate the library building. We had asked for the full $4,250,000 amount available.

This is a bummer.

Positive News:

We have put together a Planning Committee for the upcoming capital campaign. The Planning Committee will be a significant help in putting together the campaign.

This is positive

The 100 Extraordinary Women (100EW) campaign is also starting up. The 100EW campaign look to have 100 pledges of $1,000 each. Pledges can be spread over a five-year period making this a manageable amount at $4-per-week.

This is positive.

FEH Architects completed a computer rendered floor plan to better show the proposed Phase One of our project. Those images are the left.

This is positive.

The library project has been moving forward but there have been no single, big steps to generate a single news update.

The Library Board is now working on several tasks. The most important task at hand is assembling a Planning Committee for the Capital Campaign. Those meetings are scheduled for September.

We are also in discussion and exploring partnering with different organizations for our capital campaign.

The City Council approved a resolution in support of the Library’s application to the state’s FFP grant for renovation or construction. We have split our existing plan (I’ll call it the master plan) into two phases. Our grant application will be for Stage One to add a 8,500 square foot addition to the North side of the Library. The existing 1st floor would have limited renovation.

Preliminary plans have a new Children’s area and Adult book stacks in the addition. Phase one would add 11 study or tutoring rooms. (What’s the difference between a study room and a tutoring room? Well… I’m not entirely sure. One is a bit bigger than the other. Space for 1-2 people versus 3-4 people.) The addition includes a new ADA sized elevator that can also fit an emergency services gurney, solar panels on the roof, and a new program area dedicated for Children’s services.

Phase One cost estimate is $6,345,230. Our grant application is asking for the maximum award of $4,250,000. The City has pledged $1.7 million if the grant is apprroved. The Library’s existing building fund would make up the rest of the cost.

On June 6 the Library Board approved a contract with The Sweeney Group for the Group to plan and implement a capital fundraising campaign. The next steps are to:

1. Meet with FEH to adjust budget numbers for the project for a more achievable fundraising amount.
2. Update the City Council on the project.
3. Apply for the State’s one-time grant opportunity, the Flexible Facilities Program, that offers grants to a maximum of $4.25 million. Competition will be fierce for that grant.

The Library Board continues to work on and prepare for an upcoming capital campaign.

After finalizing an agreement with our fundraising consultant there will be a lot of preparation before the campaign begins. We will also be working with the architectural firm to determine an affordable design.

Our feasibility expert Jodi Sweeney will present her findings to the Library Board this afternoon at 4:45PM. Ms Sweeney will present her results from the surveys and interviews and give recommendations on conducting a capital campaign for fundraising.

Research for our fundraising feasibility study has ended. Our advisor is writing the report and will present to the Library Board in a couple weeks (date to be determined).

Our advisor had very productive conversations with several residents of Lake Mills. She will use what she learned to assist the Library Board in planning our capital campaign. That planning includes how to reach donors, messaging on the building project, and a dollar goal.

We are making progress.

Our capital campaign research is almost over and our capita campaign will begin. We still need to do campaign planning and organization. But, our campaign researcher has found several people willing to serve on the committee and also chair a key part of the campaign.

The capital campaign will be both fund raise for the project and inform the community of a advisory referendum later this year.  The library has been integral to the Downtown and the Lake Mills community since 1902. Lake Mills residents have a lot to be proud of. When someone asks about living in Lake Mills some of the top three answers will be a beautiful lake, strong schools, and the L.D. Fargo Library are often the top three.

FEH Design has completed their assessment and conceptual design and presented to the Lake Mills City Council on January 16, 2024. FEH’s presentation slideshow is posted below (minus the opening and closing slides). Here is the PDF version (with the opening and closing slides)..

FEH’s final booklet detailing building and service needs, design ideas, proposed floorplans, estimated costs, and more is here in PDF.

The library is working with Jodi Sweeney of The Sweeney Group to identify possible fundraising sources and determine a capital campaign goal.

FEH Design has sent us the latest conceptual designs for the exterior of the proposed expansion.

FEH Design has completed the bulk of their project and will present to the City Council in January or February (date to be determined). Conceptual drawings are complete and includes two 3D elevations of the proposed addition. FEH is not copying the architecture of the original building. The design is similar in style and look and carries the 1902 design elements to the addition.

The proposed design in $8.9 million. The City’s limited debt capacity require the Library to gain funding from alternate sources. The Sweeney Group will soon be arranging interviews with community members to gauge financial support for a capital campaign. A capital campaign is roughly planned to begin in the first quarter of 2024. The capital campaign will be in advance of a August, 2024 City of Lake Mills advisory referendum on whether the City should spend tax dollars to build an addition.

The Library Board met on October 18 with FEH Design. FEH presented the updated conceptual floor plans, current facilities assessment, and the conceptual budget. The original expansion study results from 2020 estimated a budget of $6 million. After inflation the current estimate is $8.9 million for an entire project.

We are now in the next steps of working on a feasibility study for fundraising. The City of Lake Mills has only so much capacity for capital borrowing. Once the feasibility study is complete we will have a reachable fundraising goal and can pair that amount with City borrowing to determine a workable project budget.

FEH Design held a half-day design workshop on October 10 with the Library Board and staff to adjust, improve, and fine-tune the proposed floor plan for a library building expansion. The meeting was productive and the resulting hand-drawn results will be put inputted into design software for easier sharing and review.

The Library has their regular monthly meeting on October 16 at 4:45PM. There is a building design meeting on October 18 at 7PM to review the digitized floor plans.

There is a design workshop meeting on October 10, 2023 to review and revise the F.2. design developed in 2020. Library Board and staff and others will work with FEH architects and designers to analyze the F.2. design and make improvements where possible.

We have hired the Sweeney Group to do a feasibility study on fundraising.

Soil boring tests will be scheduled to test the ground for suitability for a new foundation.

The Library Board met on September 27 with FEH Design to discuss the building project. Kevin Eipperle and Bill Wilson of FEH reviewed the recent building assessments undertaken by FEH and their partners. Bill Wilson reviewed the 2020 space needs study and recommended some updates and reminded that “tweaking will always need to be done” on any design. The design should try and incorporate changes such as adding a lactation room, more staff space, space for Friends of the Library and historical/genealogy files, and a dedicated Children’s programming room.

Jodi Sweeney of the Sweeney Group joined the meeting to answer Board questions regarding her proposal to perform a fundraising feasibility study.The Library Board plans to fund raise for a significant portion of a new building’s cost. A feasibility study is performed to determine a realistic and reachable dollar goal. The Sweeney Group will interview and survey members of the Lake Mills community to identify existing and potential donors. The data gathered will be analyzed and presented to the Board “evaluations and recommendations of the potential for a successful campaign.”

Further information needs to be presented to City Council on the project goals and fundraising plans. Library Director Gerard Saylor will provide an update at the October 3rd Council meeting.

The Library has contracted with FEH Design to update a 2020 proposal for a library building expansion and deliver a cost estimate for construction and furnishings. The Library is in the process of selecting a fundraiser who will help the Library Board determine a realist fundraising goal and plan a capital fundraising campaign.

There are several meeting planned in October and November as the Library Board and FEH go through the process. All Library Board meetings are open to the public. We will host a public meeting in November for presentation and comment from the public. The date for that meeting is to be determined.

Upcoming Board meetings are listed on our Event Calendar.