Gov. Laura Kelly will visit the Eudora Public Library on Thursday to sign legislation important to the library’s future.

Carol Wohlford, director of the Eudora Public Library, said the legislation authorizes the Eudora City Commission and Eudora Township Board of Trustees to pass a joint resolution creating the Eudora Community Library District. The library district will include the city of Eudora and all of Eudora Township.

The governor plans to sign the bill at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at the library, 14 E. Ninth St., Wohlford said.

Under the legislation, Wohlford said, the library district will be governed by a six-member board elected by voters in the district. In addition, the legislation gives the board the right to levy up to five mills of property taxes each year to fund the library’s operation.

Currently, the Eudora Library is funded with annual allocations from the Eudora City Commission and Eudora Township Board of Trustees. Those two bodies also share the responsibility of appointing library board members, Wohlford said.

A final provision of the legislation allows the board to authorize placing a bond question before voters for capital projects, Wohlford said.

That last provision is important because the Eudora Library has plans to build a new facility to replace its current 2,500-square-foot building, which has been in operation for four decades.

Wohlford said an ongoing capital fundraising campaign has raised $400,000 of the $3 million needed to build the new 10,000- to 12,000-square-foot facility, which would be constructed on property the library owns on the south side of Ninth Street across the street from the current library.

The goal is to raise at least $500,000 before taking a bond question to voters. Wohlford said she is confident at least another $100,000 can be raised through grants.

“We received $80,000 in grants the last quarter,” she said. “There are some big grants still out there.”

Wohlford said the goal is to hold a vote on the bond question before the 2020 general election.