A new chapter for county library

Uptown or downtown?

That's one of the primary questions swirling around discussions about a new main library for Flathead County.

Uptown would be Flathead Valley Community College. Downtown would be the old Tidyman's building on First Avenue East North.

Those are possible locations under study for a new library to replace the existing library in the old U.S. Post Office building downtown. The old library has two main drawbacks: not enough space (it occupies 23,250 square feet) and not enough parking spaces (five including two for handicapped motorists).

Either renovating Tidyman's or building a new library at the college would address the library's need for more meeting spaces, more room for books and more room for parking.

The quest for a new library has its roots in a 2003 study that determined that a 60,000-square-foot main library would be needed by the year 2025 to adequately serve the county's population.

But should it serve that population from the urban core or at the edge of town?

Opinions vary on that score. Library patrons from outlying areas may prefer the college site. But stronger voices have been raised in favor of keeping the library downtown.

The library has been described as the "heart and soul of a community" and that assessment is, in our eyes, a major reason to keep it at the center of town.

"If you want to take our library and move it up to no-man's land, you might as well take the courthouse and Woodland Park, too," one woman told the library board, "because this town would have no personality."

The Tidyman's option has always seemed a wonderful way to keep the library in the heart of town and address interior space and parking needs. But it's not a cheap option.

The possible price tags for either option, in fact, are enough to make one pause: $17.6 million to convert Tidyman's into a library or $18.2 million to build a new facility at the community college.

Those are big figures to swallow and produce scary possibilities for taxpayers in a county where the jail needs to be expanded, the old courthouse is unsafe and other facilities are stretched as well. The taxpayers' pockets are not without limits.

That raises the question of whether there's a less expensive way to expand the library. Some people have proposed buying the entire old Post Office building (the school district has it for sale), expanding the library into the remaining 6,000 square feet, buying the parking lot across the street and then building another branch library at a later date.

Those are intriguing possibilities (and quite possibly less expensive than other options on the table) but they involve a multi-step scenario that might be too complicated to undertake.

Ultimately, whichever choice is made, we do hope the "soul" of the community is taken into account. Let's do what's right for our town, the county seat of Flathead County, and not just do what is convenient.

And a word of warning: If the Tidyman's option becomes the preferred one, there needs to be extremely close inspection before the county acquires an existing building. All expenses need to be figured out in advance.

You can bet that voters will be wary before approving a new or expanded library, and they will want assurances that what they are paying for is what they will get - on budget.