The Cottage Grove Village Board will prepare to purchase the Learning Ladder day care site on Cottage Grove Road and hire consultants to study the feasibility of converting the facility into a library, according to HNGNews. The day care comes with a price tag of $1.4 million.
The board will hire architects to evaluate the possibility of conversion as well as firms to provide communications and fundraising services. Contracts will be structured in phases, with the village able to end contracts with the latter firms in the event that the library conversion is not deemed feasible. The board voted to move forward with contracts with Engberg Anderson Architects (EAA), Mueller Communications, and Madison-based consulting firm the Sweeney Group.
Hiring EAA would cost the village a total of $19,300, paid in phases from Cottage Grove’s legacy capital project fund. The first phase of the contract with Mueller Communications reportedly includes $11,000 to cover initial work, and the total cost to the village of hiring the firm would be $47,610. The contract with Sweeney Group would cost the village $4,000 per month over six months, with an early termination option.
The board is considering taking the project to a referendum on the April 2025 ballot, but the timeline is tight: The deadline to submit a referendum question for the ballot is Jan. 21, 2025. EAA would aim to complete its feasibility study by December, and Mueller Communications would begin message development in November–December, conducting the majority of its communications, community meetings, and ad campaigns between January and April 2025.
A financial management plan detailing the costs of renovating and operating the library, as well as a capital campaign raising donations toward the project, would need to be completed before January to determine what financial amount taxpayers would be asked for on the ballot.
