Library seeks money for C. Falls branch move

The Flathead County Library System made a bid Tuesday morning for $350,000 in county money to help relocate the Columbia Falls library.

It's now situated in Columbia Falls City Hall.

But the Library Board and the First Best Place Task Force have agreed to move it to Glacier Discovery Square, a $2.49 million project that will provide a community center and focus for economic development in the heart of uptown Columbia Falls.

Library Director Kim Crowley asked Flathead County commissioners on Tuesday for just over 15 percent of the county's payment-in-lieu-of-taxes money it received this year. The Department of the Interior Web site, Crowley noted, listed Flathead County's share of the money at $2.25 million.

With the move to Glacier Discovery Square, the Columbia Falls branch library will nearly double its space from 4,700 square feet to 9,000 square feet.

It's much needed, Crowley wrote in a memo to the commissioners.

As traffic for the overall library system has increased 17 percent this year, and 36 percent since fiscal year 2004, she said the Columbia Falls library has had a 25 percent increase in use in the first six months of fiscal year 2009 over the same period last year.

Her memo put Columbia Falls' population at 5,100, as estimated in July 2007, and pegged its wider North Valley service area at 15,000 people. The 40.4 percent growth since 2000 makes it the third-fastest growing community in Montana, she wrote.

Discovery Square is a remake of the former First Citizens and Glacier bank building, a collaborative project of the city's First Best Place Task Force and the library.

Task Force Executive Director Barry Conger rolled out the building plan so commissioners could see what it was they were being asked to support.

Grover and Co. architects of Whitefish has worked up a design that opens the interior of the building - much of that work already has been done by volunteers - and carves out meeting spaces and project areas for community groups, educational interests, history archives and natural resource groups.

The building will include several centers to foster early childhood literacy and offer technology access and training, teen collections, a "living room" for informal gatherings, meeting space, classrooms, a community room, vaults for historic photos and documents, a digital archiving project and something called a Heritage Wiki to create an interactive personal history database.

Conger noted that several community groups including Boy Scouts, Native Plant Society, Lions Club, North Valley Music School and others are using the space regularly already. Every Thursday the Columbia Falls Farmers Market brings more than 500 people to the square, he added, and generates around $6,000 in sales.

"We're proud of the space," Conger said. "There is a big need for this."

Crowley said the PILT money would be used specifically to remodel the basement level and replace electrical, lighting, and heating-ventilation-air conditioning systems. The $350,000 also would help install an elevator for handicap accessibility.

Design and development is projected at $245,000, construction and remodel is $1.42 million and program development is $385,000. Purchase price of the building was $440,000. So far, $645,000 has been donated and pledged.

Since those figures were compiled, Conger said, he's gotten another $5,000 or $10,000 in gifts. The group also is asking for $600,000 in federal appropriations.

Commissioners agreed to take it under advisement, but Commissioner Joe Brenneman first wanted to know whether the library has a commitment to move into the building. There's no signed lease yet, Crowley told him, but the groups have agreed in principle on a 50-year lease.

It would solve problems created by the lack of space in the current library for children's story time and community group meetings, she said - part of the needs considered in a consultant's recommendation six years ago for 6,500 square feet at the Columbia Falls library.

Staffing will have to increase eventually, but it is being held steady for now, she said.

Brenneman asked whether the city of Columbia Falls has been asked for a financial commitment. They have not, Crowley said. City Manager Bill Shaw sits on the task force board and has indicated the city may help pay utility costs, but nothing is firmed up yet.

Crowley said a commitment of PILT money from the county will help the library win other grants that require a local government match.

Flathead County Administrator Mike Pence said this request would be appropriate for a portion of the county's $2 million PILT money, but it is not specifically in the budget now. Funding is available if the commissioners deem it a high enough priority, he added.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com