County receives 'significant' donation for new library

WORLAND – The Washakie County Commissioners met on Tuesday for their regularly scheduled meeting, and were approached by Mike Healy for a “significant” donation towards funding for the remodel of the Washakie County Library that will be moving into Kennedy’s Ace Hardware on Big Horn Ave.

Healy said that he is donating because his history with Worland and the library building goes so far back that he can remember when it used to be the hospital, and believes that the library is an integral part in the community.

“I think that this is something I can make a difference in,” Healy said. “I have been looking for something to do in honor of my late wife (Jean Bailey Healy), and this is it, this is something I feel I can make a difference in.”

The donation from Healy is an unknown amount at this time, but the funds are hoped to be used for various parts of the project and it is undetermined how the funds will be donated to the county, whether it all be at one time, or dependent on projects that are being done for the library. More details on this donation will be published as it becomes available.

The library currently has a conceptual design, but there are still multiple steps to go through before actual construction on the building will begin. The hope by the county is that Ace will move out of the current buildings in the spring so that construction can begin as soon as an official concept is brought together.

The next step that Chairman Fred Frandson and the Washakie County Library Board will be taking is a tour of three recently renovated libraries in the state in Buffalo, Douglas and Glenrock, to see what newer libraries look like to bring a 21st century feeling to the new library.

Frandson was also asked about what would happen to the old library building, and he said the initial thought at this time is that the building will be put on the market and sold. However, everything in this process must fall into place one step at a time so specific plans for the current building are uncertain at this time.

More coverage from the commissioners meeting will be published in next week’s Northern Wyoming News.