Recently, a number of city institutions have been struggling in their attempts to secure funding to get a new building or expand on the current one.

The Powell Senior Center is scrambling to secure funding for the high maintenance costs at its facility while also being once again on the lookout for land for a new building after a deal with Rocky Mountain Manor recently fell through.

And the Powell Library recently went back to the drawing board to develop a new design as it continues to look for federal funding to expand its building.

Hopefully solutions come soon — the county is looking at whether it could assist the senior center with funds and possibly land next to the annex and the city has agreed to give $10,000 to the library if they get the $10 million in grants they are seeking.

But while leaders still work on those solutions, the feds finally came through with one grant to allow another project to go forward. Yes, the city on Monday officially accepted a $250,000 grant that it will match with its own funds to be able to construct a splash pad to replace the frog pond in Homesteader Park.

That’s got to be good news for the youth and parents of our town. If your kids are like mine, they know full well there’s a nice splash pad in Cody — they may have even gone to those in Cowley or even Ten Sleep. But if all goes according to plan, as of late next summer the closest splash pad will be a lot closer than a town or two away. And if the coming summers are anything like this one, some nice trips to the splash pad to cool down will be much appreciated by Powell kids. And parents (and grandparents) will surely appreciate less driving, especially if gas prices stay  as high as they are this summer.