The Kanawha County Public Library system's director said Monday he's expecting a report this week on the level of flood damage to the Clendenin branch, and he still doesn't know when the bridge to Crossings Mall - where the nearby Elk Valley branch is located - will be repaired.
Alan Engelbert said the system received in the last few days $120,000 of a possible $600,000 in flood insurance coverage money for the contents and building of the Clendenin branch, which got 9 feet of water in the late June flooding. The floods spared the Elk Valley branch but swept away the culvert bridge leading into the shopping center where it and several businesses are located.
On July 26, the library reopened a space it used to occupy at 3636 Pennsylvania Ave., in Big Chimney, to serve both the Clendenin and Elkview areas until the bridge is replaced. The Mobile Library, the 33-foot-long "bookmobile bus" where patrons can check out items, also is stopping in Clendenin.
Kanawha County Deputy Planning Director James Young previously told the Gazette-Mail that the bridge was expected to be constructed off site, starting in early- to mid-August and continuing for six to eight weeks.
Engelbert said a contractor and the insurance company are continuing to assess damage to the Clendenin building and its contents to determine how much flood insurance money the system is owed. The Federal Emergency Management Agency may pitch in funds for whatever the future of the Clendenin branch is, though Engelbert said he is first awaiting the report on how the branch's damages compare to its appraised value.
Such reports have been done on flooded Kanawha schools - one showed the damages to Clendenin Elementary, for instance, equaled about 97 percent of the circa-1930 school's $3.7 million appraised value.
Any time a building is more than 50 percent damaged in such a situation, it has to be brought into compliance with national flood insurance policy, meaning there could be requirements to elevate the flooded structure above the floodplain or other measures.
Under its Public Assistance Program, FEMA can fund 75 percent, and perhaps more, of the cost to fix damage to public facilities, including the cost to build new facilities and establish temporary facilities. Engelbert said the system already expects about $18,000 in reimbursement for the costs to both set up and vacate the temporary branch serving Clendenin and Elkview.
Also at Monday's library system board meeting, Engelbert said the system will add Hoopla to its digital offerings starting Oct. 10. He said patrons will be able to go online and, using their library card information, access up to 10 "units" - such as songs and entire albums, movies and episodes of TV series - per month.
He said patrons will only be able to use such units for a limited amount of time. He said the library system has put $25,000 toward paying the fees Hoopla charges for each unit checked out.
The board also deferred action on a policy change that Engelbert said would pay part-time workers seven and a half hours worth of pay for the four and a half hours worth of work they do on Sundays only in the main Charleston branch of the system.
Engelbert said the change would cost about $5,600 annually in extra pay and benefits for the, on average, six workers who work each Sunday. He said full-time workers have received the benefit of being paid for extra hours each Sunday they work since 1974.
But, after some board members Monday questioned why the system would take the step and a reporter noted the item listed on the meeting agenda to legally allow the board to take the action Monday vaguely only said "Policy #104 Hours of Work," the board deferred action in a voice vote. The only nay heard was from Cheryl Crigger Morgan, the board's former president.
Reach Ryan Quinn at
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