In its second year, the Soddy Daisy Community Library is considered to be a huge success. It was founded by Curtis Cecil and Kelly Flemings and is under the umbrella of the KELCURT Foundation which specializes in agriculture, community and education. The library falls under both education and community. Mr. Cecil gave an update of the library to the Soddy Daisy Commissioners at the Thursday night meeting.
All items that are available at the library to check out are 100 percent free of charge, and the library is run by volunteers.
Community donations made possible 90 percent of the materials that are lent out, including 1,100 movies, music CDs and audio books in addition to the printed volumes, said Mr. Flemings, vice president and chief of education for the foundation. There is also a cash donation box at the facility. In July, over 1,000 items were checked out. Library cards are held by 11 percent of the population of Soddy Daisy. There are now 1,141 patrons using the library and they come from not only Soddy Daisy, but also the surrounding towns.
The library currently has 20,000 items and between 400-500 are being added each month. Additionally, the library organizes adult, teen and tween book clubs and currently is working with some teachers so that childrens can get extra credit for participation in the book clubs. There also is a push to train children to do STEM projects and the needed equipment is made available from the library. And each month there are a number of events planned that take place at the library.
Mr. Cecil’s business, KELCURT Media, located at 9619 Dayton Pike, specializes in videography and in converting home movies onto CDs. In honor of the city’s 50th year KELCURT is making a film to tell the story of Soddy Daisy. Previous mayors and commissioners will be interviewed and recorded accompanied by drone footage and images from the Soddy Daisy History Museum to illustrate the story. The celebration is planned for Saturday, Sept. 28, at Veterans Park. The film will be shown on a large screen TV at the event.
In regular city business, City Manager Janice Cagle received approval from the commissioners for a $10,000 payment for street repairs that the city has recently made.