There was enough interest in the museum and library boards for the county commissioners to make some tough decisions last week. 

The Park County Museum Board will have a couple of new faces going forward after the commissioners appointed two new members to two open positions on the board on a tight vote. 

“I think they’re all pretty good applicants,” Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said. 

The issue that split the commissioners revolved around the importance of having a Meeteetse representative vs. having fundraising experience. 

Chair Dossie Overfield, who had to break a tie vote, said there was a time when the five board positions mandated two Cody representatives, two from Powell and one from Meeteetse. However, she said as the county rarely received a Meeteetse representative, that position was changed to an at large spot — it was filled by a Cody resident most recently. 

In this instance, the commissioners did have a Meeteetse candidate, as well as Cody and Powell candidates, to choose from for the two spots. 

After filling the Powell spot with the Powell candidate, longtime agricultural seed expert Gary White, commissioners split between Cody’s Rebecca McKinley and Meeteetse’s Patricia Ferguson. 

In the end, Overfield voted in favor of McKinley along with commissioners Kelly Simone and Scott Steward. 

McKinley is currently with the Heart Mountain Foundation and has previously worked at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and the Washakie museum, among others. 

She said her current position deals with fundraising. 

Ferguson, who has lived in Meeteetse the last four years, said she’s always been a fan of museums from when she was a child living near Virginia. She is currently pursuing a dual bachelors degree at the University of Wyoming. She said she would love to encourage even more children to come to the county museums. 

Library board

After the split vote for the museum spots, commissioners were unanimous in filling the library board Meeeteetse position with the incumbent, as is generally the case when an incumbent is in the running for a position. 

While commissioners praised candidate Bob Ferguson’s knowledge of finances and fundraising capacity — he is a financial planner and was involved in fundraising for the NRA — they chose to stick with longtime Meeteetse resident Gary Horner after Commissioner Scott Mangold’s motion to appoint Ferguson was not seconded.