News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena Clerk’s Office employee Jennifer Berant prepares a pile of absentee ballots to be counted during Tuesday’s special election. The countywide library millage renewal passed with ease, as did fire and emergency medical service millage requests in Green Township.

ALPENA — Improvement projects planned for the Alpena County Library have been given the green light after voters in the county overwhelmingly approved a 20-year, 0.25-mill property tax renewal during a special election on Tuesday.

The unofficial results showed 2,284 for the millage and 938 against. The totals will be verified by the Alpena County Board of Canvassers at 10 a.m. today.

Meanwhile, unofficial results showed Green Township voters OK’d one property tax for road maintenance and another for emergency medical services.

The tax — which will cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $12.50 a year and should bring in about $232,546 a year for the library — will be used for major climate control and security upgrades at the downtown Alpena library, as well as remodeling and operations.

It will also pay to have asbestos removed from the facility, which caused a delay and added expense to the previously proposed renovation project.

Library Executive Director Eric Magness-Eubank said the funding for the 45-year-old building will solve major problems and improve services.

The total cost of the renovation project is about $3.75 million. He said that cost is less than half of what it would cost to move to another building or have one built, which was on the table should the millage have failed because humidity is damaging books and technology at the library.

Magness-Eubank said the results of the election show what the library means to the people of the county and he is humbled to be a part of it and the community which uses it.

“I think it has been clear for a while that there are a lot of people who don’t just like the library, but love it,” Magness-Eubank said. “We feel we have a history of providing the best service we can and it is really humbling to make this ask and get the level of return that we did.”

Magness-Eubank said that, now that the millage is passed, the construction project at the library can begin with a few small projects this fall and the more extensive work in February. He said the project could be done sometime in the first quarter of 2020.

For most of the county, the library millage was the only issue on the ballot.

In Green Township, however, voters approved a pair of millage requests.

Proposal 1 was a 10-year, 0.5-mill request for road improvements. That tax is expected to cost the owner of a $100,000 house about $25 a year and generate about $28,732 in its first year for the township. The final vote tally for that proposal was 99 for and 44 against.

The second request was for 1 mill — $50 a year for the owner of a $100,000 house –and will be used to provide medical first response and fire protection services in the township. It passed 107 yes to 36 no. It will generate about $57,500 in it first year and is also a 10-year millage.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.