Museum board needs to change focus

Inter Lake editorial

For a mere million dollars, Flathead County could have a nice, spiffed-up historical museum on U.S. 93 south of Kalispell.

That's the estimate from one member of the Flathead County Museum Board, who figured an infusion of $200,000 a year for five years would bring the currently inadequate museum building up to standards.

It's an admirable goal, but that money is not likely to come out of county coffers soon, nor is much other financial support on the horizon.

As a result, five of the seven museum board members have stepped down, many of them frustrated that their efforts to put the museum on secure footing have been unsuccessful.

"Some dreams can't be realized," longtime board member Cliff Collins said.

The county museum board, it's true, has been somewhat of a neglected orphan, receiving no financial support from the county prior to a $1,000 appropriation last fall.

But county commissioners have rightly had other budget priorities.

As Commissioner Joe Brenneman put it, "When it's a question of hiring another sheriff's deputy or putting money towards the museum, public safety has to come first."

We tend to agree with that sentiment. Preserving the history of this county is a noble and noteworthy cause, and we salute the supporters who have toiled to enhance the county museum.

However, the museum dream has to face financial reality. That reality probably doesn't include an infusion of county money anywhere approaching a million dollars.

Since much of the museum's collection previously was loaned to the Museum at Central School in Kalispell, perhaps that's the path the county museum should follow.

Central School offers a facility that already has been upgraded and renovated (with $2.5 million in taxpayer money), so it might make sense to merge museum efforts rather than spend money to revamp a decrepit facility.

Perhaps there will be volunteers who step forward and want to aggressively pursue private funding to save the Flathead County Museum.

If that happens, great.

But if not, historic preservation doesn't have to die; it could just change venues.