Wednesday, January 21, 2026 |
Photo – Medicine Bow gateway sign – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Town of Medicine Bow is prepared to establish its own computer lab if the library closes.
During the January 12th Medicine Bow Town Council meeting, Clerk Treasurer Karen Heath requested $1,950 to purchase a new computer for town hall. Heath said her current machine is showing signs of degradation, similar to Deputy Clerk Alice Clark’s computer a few months ago.
Treasurer Heath said the owner of the Casper‑based computer services company, BDub IT Consulting, can provide a prebuilt commercial Lenovo‑brand computer that meets her needs. With AI‑related projects driving up demand for components like memory, Heath said a custom‑built computer is out of the question.
Treasurer Heath said the proposed computer will include backup hard drives to protect the town’s data, adding that she also uses a solid‑state drive for daily archiving. Town Attorney Cameron Smith asked if she had considered using external cloud storage as a backup. Heath replied that she is reluctant to use the cloud due to security concerns.
Heath added that solid‑state drives are more reliable than traditional spinning‑platter hard drives.
Councilwoman Crystal Mayfield noted that the $1,950 price tag does not include setup, which is billed at an additional $125 per hour. Treasurer Heath said the installation should take no more than one or two hours.
The Town Council voted to pay BDub IT Consulting $1,950, plus the setup costs, using money from the Chokecherry Sierra Madre Impact Assistance Fund. After the vote, Mayor Justin George directed Heath to ask the IT technician to factory‑reset the old computer. Mayor George said the town can use that computer, along with a machine donated by the Medicine Bow Health Center, to establish a small computer lab in the town hall. Should the local library close as planned on March 5th, 2027, the computers will be made available to residents without home internet access.
The governing body expressed their approval of the mayor’s plan.
