Mindoro Residents Continue to Push for Their Own Library

Mindoro library land referendum could revive project. (Jackson County Chronicle, 3/14/2012)

Excerpt: Farmington moved forward on a library project in 2008 and spent $80,000 to purchase the lot at N8296 Church St. and demolish the home. But in 2010, residents voted to halt the library project amid cost concerns. 

Farmington resident Dewey Wegner said there isn’t a need for another library because most residents already access the system’s five current branches, especially libraries in West Salem and Holmen. He said if cuts are made to the system, a Mindoro branch would be the first one targeted. “

We have to go to West Salem and Holmen no matter what you buy, and there are libraries there and people go to them,” Wegner said. “I don’t think a little community can support a library. “

As soon as the county decides to cut back (on library funding), it’s not going to be West Salem, it’s not going to be Bangor, it’s not going to be Holmen — it’s going to be Mindoro.” 

Proponents of a Mindoro library, though, argue Farmington taxpayers already contribute about $52,400 a year to the La Crosse County Library System and another $500 to the Winding Rivers Library System. La Crosse County Library Director Chris McArdle Rojo said the library system would provide staff and materials for a Mindoro library, so there wouldn’t be any additional cost to taxpayers and instead keeps that money local. 

The library system already has $100,000 budgeted for a Mindoro library to cover collections, programs and staffing.