Columbus Public Library Director Drew Brookhart has a lot to think about over the days, weeks and months ahead.
He started late Tuesday night with a walk around the neighborhood.
"It seemed like the logical next step," Brookhart said while processing the results of that day's special bond election for the library/cultural arts center.
Columbus residents voted 1,763 to 1,514 against issuing up to $8.5 million in bonds to design, build and furnish the roughly 45,000-square-foot facility planned for the former Gene Steffy Ford property along 14th Street between 23rd and 24th avenues. There are just nine provisional ballots still uncounted.
Brookhart called the results "very, very disappointing."
"I'm certainly disappointed and humbled by the loss," he said.
But he's not ready to give up on the project.
"At this point we need to listen to the community and we need to fully understand why the project wasn't supported," Brookhart said. "Until we do that work, we won't know how to move forward."
The library board meets Thursday to discuss the next step.
Columbus residents voted nearly 2 to 1 in May 2016 in favor of extending the local half-cent sales tax to pay for the library/cultural arts center and proposed improvements for the police and fire departments.
City officials also worked with the design firm and construction manager at-risk to shave about $1.6 million from the library's projected price tag before putting the project up for another public vote.
The plan turned down Tuesday by a 54 percent margin called for a $16 million facility that includes a 300-seat auditorium, art gallery, makerspace and enough square footage to accommodate 20 years of library growth.
At least 50 percent of the construction costs were to be covered by private donations, grants and a library foundation contribution, although only $4.3 million has been committed so far.
Brookhart said fundraising for the project will likely come to a halt until a new plan that's backed by the community is in place.
Tuesday's vote, he said, "puts a lot of things in jeopardy."
The city council agreed last month to seek grants for the library building from the Peter Kiewit Foundation and Nebraska Department of Economic Development, and the Omaha-based Sherwood Foundation awarded a $1.2 million grant to Columbus for the so-called quality of life projects that must be matched 2 to 1 locally by the end of 2017.
The Raimondo Family Foundation and another anonymous donor matched the $1.2 million contribution.
The East Central District Health Department, Columbus High School STEM Academy and Columbus Family YMCA projects have been completed, leaving the library/cultural arts center as the only project left to meet its fundraising requirement by the year-end deadline. If all four projects reach their fundraising goals, the Sherwood Foundation will add a $500,000 "collaboration bonus" to the grant amount.
Brookhart said the bond issue defeat negatively impacts the library foundation's ability to reach that goal.
As for what happens to the money that's already been committed, "Those are conversations that will have to take place between the library foundation and donors," Brookhart said.
Mayor Jim Bulkley heard from both opponents and supporters of the library plan leading up to Tuesday's election, making it a tough one to call before the final numbers rolled in.
"I thought it had a good chance of moving forward," he said.
But, as the mayor noted, "the voters spoke."
"We need to learn from this," said Bulkley, who is recommending the library board take a page from Columbus Public Schools' playbook.
After voters overwhelmingly rejected a $28.5 million bond issue for a new middle school in 2011, CPS officials engaged the public in a 2 1/2-year, give-and-take process that eventually led to the 2014 passage of a $49.9 million bond issue to build the recently opened high school.
"They learned from a defeat," Bulkley said, adding that city officials must do the same thing by listening to public input before adjusting the plan.
"I don't think this all goes away," the mayor said. "We need to get refocused and regrouped and reorganized."
However, that's going to take time.
Bulkley said the immediate focus will be on moving forward with the public safety improvements, which could include construction of a joint facility shared by the police and fire departments.
The half-cent sales tax will remain in place until debt issued for the library and public safety projects is repaid, or voters reject both proposals during bond elections.
The city already paid $370,000 for the former auto dealership property, a portion of which is currently occupied by Columbus Animal Control, and $358,381 for design services for the library project.
