Upgrades in store for Carnegie Historical Museum

FAIRFIELD - Gloria Countryman updated the Fairfield City Council on projects that the Carnegie Historical Museum is undertaking at the council's regular meeting on Monday, Jan. 27.

Countryman, a member of the Carnegie Historical Museum Foundation board, said one of the more significant upgrades to the museum will come later this spring when it receives a new elevator.

Since the museum shares its building with Indian Hills Community College, the installation of the elevator will be timed to disrupt classes as little as possible. Countryman said the elevator will be installed by Schumacher Elevator Company, the same company that installed the new elevator at the Jefferson County Courthouse.

The existing elevator still works, it's just that the museum is being required to update its elevator to comply with code.

'We're bringing it up to the date so we don't have to do it again for a while, we hope,” Countryman said.

Countryman said the exact dates of the elevator's closure are still unknown. While it is down, those wishing to visit the museum will have to use the stairs.

A new elevator isn't the only project in store for the museum. The foundation hired Klingner and Associates of Burlington to conduct a structural and maintenance analysis of the building, which was published in June 2018. The report found that the building, built in 1892, still is structurally sound. It was the first of 1,689 Carnegie libraries endowed by Andrew Carnegie, and housed the town's library until a new building was built a few blocks away in 1996.

Klingner and Associates recommended the museum undertake three main improvements to its building: repairing the east exterior steps, performing masonry work, and reinforcing the southwest corner of the building. Countryman said the foundation has decided to begin fundraising for three separate phases of work, starting with the east exterior stairs. The foundation has submitted an application to receive local-option sales tax funds.

'The second and third phases are more extensive and will require more monies,” Countryman told the council.

The foundation plans to submit grant applications to various entities, some of which will require matching funds. Countryman said she's been working with Fairfield City Engineer Melanie Carlson, and would like to work with past and present city leaders, to create a capital fundraising campaign. She estimates these projects will take three to five years to complete and, according to Klingner and Associates' estimate, require about $800,000.

The council referred the matter to the city's property committee, since it deals with a piece of city property.

In other news, the council passed the second reading of an ordinance to allow downtown residents to leave their vehicles parked downtown overnight, with only a few exceptions.

If passed, the policy would be a change from current law which does not allow parking in the downtown between 2-6 a.m.

The only exceptions to the new policy would be when the city streetsweeper needs to clean the streets, which is on the last Friday of the month in the spring, summer and fall and when the city needs to plow the roads after declaring a snow emergency.

Fairfield City Administrator Aaron Kooiker said the council is changing the ordinance after receiving many requests from downtown tenants who want to be able to park downtown.

'We have a large number of folks who live downtown, and this will make it easier for them and better for the community,” Kooiker said.

The council also passed a resolution adding the newly built 30,000-square-foot shell building on 227th Avenue into an Urban Renewal Area. Kooiker said this will allow the city to capture tax increment financing (TIF) on the building, and reinvest it into that very same area to help a new business move into the building.