By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Maribeth Shafer has served as the director at the Great Bend Public Library for almost a year. Throughout her time as director she has been concerned about leaks at the library anytime it rains.
The City of Great Bend is getting around with insurance to repair facilities following last summer’s large wind and hail storm. The library recently received a new roof and eliminated Shafer’s fear whenever rain is in the forecast.
"I know the city has worked very hard to repair a lot of buildings throughout the city," said Shafer. "I want to thank you for your time and effort. I just wanted to thank the city council for what you're doing for the community and all of its services."
The Great Bend library received a $10,000 grant from the American Library Association to improve accessibility toward the building. Shafer said her initial thoughts are to use the grant to build a family and ADA restroom upstairs. Part of the grant requires that the library surveys the community to find out the citizens’ needs.
"These meetings are for anybody to come in and share with us the challenges they may have in our building or just concerns they want to share," said Shafer. "Once we have that community meeting, we'll be able to move forward with the project we planned or pivot to what our community sees as a greater need."
The Great Bend library will host a community meetings on May 15 at 11 a.m. and again at 5:30 p.m.