Findlay-Hancock Library gets $1.42M in FEMA aid

3/12/2008

FINDLAY The Federal Emergency Management Agency has awarded more than $1.42 million to the Findlay-Hancock County Public Library for a project it hopes will make the library floodproof.

The downtown library was closed for more than three months after its lower level filled with water, knocking out all mechanical systems, during the Aug. 22 flood that hit Findlay.

Since then, the library board has been working on a plan to build a two-story building at the rear of the library that will house all the mechanical systems currently located in the basement. It also plans to move administrative offices and technical services out of the lower level to what is currently a first-floor meeting room.

The FEMA funds will pay for 75 percent of the $1.9 million project, while state emergency management funds should cover 12.5 percent. The library will pay the remaining 12.5 percent.