Whitefish library group works toward 'seamless' transition
With less than five months to go, a newly appointed Whitefish Community Library board of trustees is in the throes of establishing an independent city library in Whitefish by July 1.
“We’re working with the county to make it seamless,” board chairman Michael Collins said.
The Whitefish City Council voted last November to give the Flathead County Library System notice of its intent to terminate its interlocal agreement with the county for the current branch library in Whitefish and establish a separate tax-supported city library in the same city-owned building.
The decision came on the heels of more than a year of conflict between Whitefish branch library supporters and the county library system and staff, and was based on an opinion from Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock that said Whitefish can legally create its own city library and may collect revenue from the 5.95-mill levy the county currently collects for its valleywide library system.
The five-person board, which includes Collins, Anne Moran, Mary Vail, Alison Pomerantz and Ray Boksich, admittedly has its hands full, Collins said, but the group has made good progress in the last month in identifying what start-up and transition activities need to be done and how that will be accomplished.
The bylaws for the new library were completed last week, Collins said.
Among the myriad tasks is applying to become a member of the Montana Shared Catalog and the Partners system that will provide library patrons with access to the same catalog of titles currently available on the Flathead County Library System website.
The board also will hire a library director in the near future who will help shape the rest of the staff for the independent library.
Representatives from the city and county recently did a walk-through of the Whitefish branch library to begin determining what belongs to the city and what is county property.
A committee that studied the conflict between Whitefish library supporters and the county library board and managers last year delivered a report to the City Council that included a plan for how to divide the library’s 44,603 items.
Whitefish Community Library board members have been asked by library patrons how to submit donations of money, materials and books to support the new library, Collins said.
If those making donations want their contributions to go toward the new library, they can contact the Whitefish Library Association, the nonprofit organization that has long supported the library. The association will coordinate the effort.
Over the next five months, any donations of time, website design, furniture, computers, copiers, books, magazines, CDs, DVDs and money should be directed to: Whitefish Library Association, P.O. Box 543, Whitefish, MT 59937; or contact Connie Heckathorn, e-mail heckathornc.wla@gmail.com; or Stephanie Walls, wwals.wla@gmail.com.
The library building, located at the northeast corner of Railway Street and Spokane Avenue, was build in 1997 as part of a $2.8 million project that also included construction of the O’Shaughnessy Cultural Arts Center. Prior to that the branch library was located at Whitefish City Hall, where the current City Council chambers now are located.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.