County studies C.F. library funding

The First Best Place nonprofit group wants $268,000 in county funding to help relocate the Columbia Falls branch library to Glacier Discovery Square in downtown Columbia Falls.

Flathead County Library Director Kim Crowley and First Best Place representatives met with the county commissioners on Thursday to formally ask for the money. The commissioners took the request under advisement and will consider a decision sometime in January.

Crowley said the Columbia Falls branch library has outgrown its quarters at Columbia Falls City Hall. In the last five years, annual checkouts of books and other materials have gone up 54 percent.

This year more than 65,000 people used the Columbia Falls library and checked out nearly 80,000 items. The six computers have had close to 25,000 log-ins in 2010.

Relocating the library to Discovery Square — the former First Citizens Bank building that’s now a community center — would roughly double the amount of library space from 4,700 to more than 9,000 square feet, Crowley said.

First Best Place Director Barry Conger told the commissioners that a funding commitment from the county would go a long way in leveraging grant and foundation funding for the library. The group has about $300,000 committed for what’s expected to be a $1.4 million project.

The only way projects like this can succeed is through public-private partnerships, Conger said.

“In Columbia Falls we love our library,” he said, adding that libraries are “more relevant in tough economic times.”

Crowley said the county funding, if approved, would be used for shelving, furniture and fixtures. The county system will get the Whitefish library’s computers and materials collection once Whitefish severs its ties with the county in July and establishes its own independent library.

The Whitefish collection, if purchased new, would be valued at $644,000, Crowley said; much of it could be used for the Columbia Falls library expansion.

If grant funding comes through, the Columbia Falls library relocation could begin in the fall of 2011, she said.

Commissioner Joe Brenneman asked Crowley and Conger about support from the Columbia Falls Library Association, noting he’d heard “they’re perfectly happy where they are at now.”

Conger said the library association board is “a conservative group” that’s not quite ready to write a check or offer a letter of support.

“They’ve been a part of the project from the beginning,” Conger stressed. “We don’t consider their funds to be a critical part of the project.”

First Best Place already has converted Discovery Square into a vibrant community center that has been used by more than 20,000 people so far this year, he said. It’s used for a variety of classes, meetings and other events, and the library relocation is a central component of the entire project.

The city of Columbia Falls has promised janitorial and groundsweeping services for the library once it’s set up at Discovery Square. Under the current interlocal agreement, the city provides the building, utilities and maintenance.

Flathead County Library Board Chairwoman Jane Lopp said she thinks the proposed relocation is a great project and “an excellent opportunity for the county to leverage money.”

Brenneman said the county could tap the building reserve fund for the Columbia Falls library relocation and use a portion of the money that’s been set aside for construction of new commissioner chambers.

“I’d heartily endorse it,” Brenneman said.

But Brenneman’s term is up the end of January, so incoming Commissioner Pam Holmquist will be tasked with making the decision along with the other two commissioners.

Commissioner Jim Dupont said he wasn’t prepared to make a decision immediately on the funding request.

“The issue I have with an allocation of more than a quarter-million dollars is I don’t know where it will come from,” Dupont said. “I need time to look at the information.”

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.