Library gets $720,000 from State

The Washington State House and Senate each passed $720,000 for a new La Conner Regional Library Sunday. Final passage of the $4.9 billion capital budget came in the last minutes of the last day of the legislative session. The legislature adjourned on time for their 105-day session, as mandated in the state’s constitution.

“I’m happy to have helped secure $720,000 in the House proposal. This is a smart investment for the state. It leverages local dollars to help the library provide much needed resources for La Conner, like a community meeting room and dedicated areas for children and teens,” said Rep. Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor, after the House passed its budget April 4th.

Reps. Norma Smith, R-Clinton and Paul, and Sen. Barbara Bailey, R-Oak Harbor, secured nearly $28.5 million in project funding for their 10th legislative district, covering Island and western portions of Skagit and Snohomish counties.

La Conner Mayor Ramon Hayes, who has championed library funding to area residents and legislators in Olympia, emailed, “The town has been very pleased to assist the library with their extraordinary efforts. We are so pleased with this result and the giant step the legislature has made to make the new La Conner library a reality. Our combined efforts with a county grant will represent one of the final steps in making this project a go in 2019.”

Hayes also acknowledged “Rep. Debra Lekanoff, for her support of this project.” The 40th district representative lives in Bow, but her daughter attends school in La Conner and Lekanoff works across the channel for the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.

Lekanoff commented, “Literacy is a gift that opens the doors to education and opportunity. I was proud to secure House budget funding for the La Conner Library.”

La Conner Library Foundation Board President Jim Airy applauded all involved. “This was the result of hard work by a lot of people, and I personally want to thank Ramon Hayes and Scott Thomas for leading our cause in the legislature!” he said, noting “without their passionate support, without the Town insisting that the library’s needs are community needs, I doubt we could have obtained this level of funding!”

Susan Macek, library foundation director, also expressed gratitude for the community’s commitment to a new library. “That has made a remarkable impression on our District 10 legislators,” she said “Their actions to fully fund our second request for $720,000, and re-appropriate the original $500,000, sends a strong message about the importance of a new library that will serve as a multi-cultural community resource center for all in our library district. We’re now closer to our goal of fully funding the new building by the end of this year!”

In 2018 the legislature granted $500,000, with spending to start by this June 30. Sunday they extended the time period.

Town Administrator Scott Thomas weighed in, emailing: “We look forward to the opening of the new library, and the rewards to be reaped by the entire community, including residents, businesses, students and seniors. La Conner is fortunate to have people such as Jim, Susan and others who have dedicated a great deal of time and talent to bring a new library to town,”

Macek’s funding plan shows over $2 million of the $3.74 million project funded with these allocations. Local donations are almost $1.2 million to date.

Fifty thousand dollars in local funds were raised in April through the Library Giving Day initiative. A $25,000 matching grant challenge was met by residents making donations ranging from $5 to $5,000.

As Macek said at April’s start: “We still have a lot of work to do.”