New library for Powell?

Preliminary planning underway for new, $18-$20 million Powell facility

Posted 11/19/19

Though the effort remains in the early stages, library boosters are beginning a serious push for a new Powell library.

In the near future, a local group intends to hire an architect and other …

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New library for Powell?

Preliminary planning underway for new, $18-$20 million Powell facility

Posted

Editor's note: Pat Stuart, the interim leader of the Powell Library Task Force, has since clarified that the estimated cost of the new facility is actually in the $8 million to $10 million range.

Though the effort remains in the early stages, library boosters are beginning a serious push for a new Powell library.

In the near future, a local group intends to hire an architect and other consultants to come up with a rendering of what a new library building could look like, where it might be located and how much it would cost.

Part of that work will involve combing over a needs assessment conducted earlier this year to “make sure that when we do build, we are building exactly what Powell wants and needs,” said Pat Stuart, the acting chairman of the Powell Library Task Force.

As for what’s wrong with the current library on the corner of Third and Clark streets, library leaders and supporters say it’s too crowded and outdated.

Stuart told Park County commissioners earlier this month that the new building envisioned by the task force could cost somewhere between $18 to $20 million.

“We’re hoping to keep that down,” she said. “I’d like to see it $18 million or under, but we are prepared to go with whatever the community decides it wants to have.”

Eventually, the task force’s recommendations will need the approval of commissioners, who have the ultimate authority over the Park County Library System. But the planning phase of the project is expected to take at least two years.

“We’re looking at 2022 as the earliest that we will be raising money for the library itself,” Stuart said.

In the meantime, the task force hopes to come up with $150,000 worth of grants and donations to cover the various planning expenses. An anonymous donor has already made a “generous” contribution while the Park County Library Foundation — a private nonprofit that operates separately from the library system — will match donations.

“There is no desire to use county money to do this [planning work],” said John Gordnier, a member of the foundation’s board and the chair of Park County Library Board, which oversees the libraries for commissioners. “We want to see this as an initiative from the community, [and] I mean the Park County community.”

Gordnier said the task force has come up with an “excellent overview and approach” and stressed to commissioners that “the community of Powell is very excited about doing this [new library] and they are very energetic in doing it.”

“Anything that we can do, anything that you as the commissioners can do, to support and encourage that enthusiasm I think would be most helpful,” he said.

The county commission has generally balked at building a new Powell library in past years — and the county now finds itself in a budget crunch. However, Commission Chairman Jake Fulkerson said earlier this month that he was “really excited” about the general concept.

“Personally, I’m all on board. I really support the idea of a new facility in Powell for a library,” he said. “But until we get numbers behind it, it’s really hard to take it any further.”

It was in response to that remark that Stuart offered the outline of the tentative timeline and the rough cost estimates.

Fulkerson also pressed her on whether the public and media can attend the task force’s meetings; he said a written summary that library officials presented to commissioners on Nov. 5 seemed “very cryptic.”

Stuart assured the chairman that, although the Powell Library Task Force’s work is being privately funded, it’s intended to be a public process.

“It can’t be anything else,” she said.

As for next steps, Stuart indicated that the group is already working on drafting a request for proposals from architects.

 

Powell library to be designated a branch no more

The word “branch” may soon disappear from the Powell Branch Library.

The county-run libraries in Powell and Meeteetse have always been referred to as branches of the main Park County Library in Cody. However, “we don’t think that represents what they mean to the community,” library board chair John Gordnier told county commissioners on Nov. 5.

Gordnier indicated that, going forward, the facilities in Meeteetse and Powell will simply be known as county libraries.

“I think that as we move forward, it’s really important, most particularly in Powell, for Powell to know that it is their library,” said Park County Library System Director Frances Clymer, who came up with the idea. “It is the Powell library, it’s not a branch of anything; it is an entity in and of itself as part of a system.”

Commissioners had no objections.

“That’s how we view it, so it makes complete sense,” said Commission Chairman Jake Fulkerson.

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