Library receives county .09 funds

As the only applicant for this year’s county .09 funds, the Whitman County Library was awarded the entire sum of $100,000 for projects at The Center.

“I’m so excited,” said Kristie Kirkpatrick, library director. “This will be huge.”

Kirkpatrick said the funds will help to push The Center toward completion. The building was purchased with donated funds totaling $80,000, and work has been underway for eight years on projects to remodel the building and create a community space. Prior to the .09 funds, the renovations had been funded by grants and donations totaling $280,000.

“This money will really clean up a lot of loose ends for it,” said Kirkpatrick.

It will complete some big items, too.

“It will finish the restrooms, the tech center, the signage and the back entrance,” said Kirkpatrick.

For the restrooms, there will be plumbing, wiring and infrastructure put in place. Adding restrooms, Kirkpatrick said, will help The Center to be able to operate independent of the library.

“It has been a struggle when anybody wants to use it after hours because we have to staff the library to have it open because of the restrooms,” she said. “It will be huge to have that finished.”

Kirkpatrick said there have been several requests to include a community kitchen within the space, but that is likely too expensive. An unfinished portion will remain once everything else is completed, though.

“We’re doing the priority stuff first,” said Kirkpatrick.

The library has one year to complete the project with the .09 funds, and it also must provide a match. There has already been $27,000 raised, and $7,000 more is needed to complete the match.

“We will do it,” said Kirkpatrick. “We’ve had a lot of fundraisers and a lot of people have stepped up to donate.”

To date, funds have come from several sources, including $79,472 in previous .09 funds, $22,000 from INWCF, $10,000 from Avista, $500 from the Colfax Downtown Association and a large portion from donations.