County's fiscal prudence wise

There may be some Columbia Falls residents who are asking the county commissioners right about now, “Where’s the love?”

In less than a year, the county has thwarted future funding for two key projects.

Last fall the commissioners voted to “unencumber” a half-million dollars of federal grant money for the Red Bridge rehabilitation, effectively putting that neighborhood development project on the back burner big-time.

Last week the commissioners decided to pull an even bigger earmark for Columbia Falls, removing a $1.9 million capital improvement line item in fiscal year 2017 for a new Columbia Falls library.

On the surface it may seem as though the county is picking on its municipal neighbor to the north, but a closer look reveals a sound rationale for the commissioners’ decisions.

In both cases lingering questions about the financial viability of the nonprofit First Best Place group and the organization’s ability to put forth a solid game plan for community development have come into play.

With the Red Bridge project First Best Place was unable to round up its share of funding for the project, and when the deadline arrived a planner told the commissioners there had been “no productive communication or correspondence” with First Best Place, so the county backed out.

First Best Place also would like to relocate the Columbia Falls branch library from its crowded facility at City Hall to the more spacious Discovery Square, which the organization owns. Once again, it seems First Best Place has the cart before the horse.

A work session held recently to talk about the future relocation of the library produced more questions than it did answers. Is the money there to maintain a much larger facility? Is there community buy-in for a new library? Why would a new library cost that much? Are the other uses planned for Discovery Square compatible with a library?

Commissioner Pam Holmquist, who campaigned as a fiscal conservative, hit the nail on the head when she said that “at this time” the county can’t take on such a project. And she’s right when she notes the county shouldn’t be in the real estate business by buying a building without a firm plan in place.

First Best Place is a worthy organization for Columbia Falls and we applaud their desire to improve the town’s amenities. Such grassroots efforts are what small towns are all about, so we hope the group can work through any organizational and financial issues. The group earlier this year hired a new director and launched its first-ever membership program.

If First Best Place ultimately can prove itself as a viable development effort, we would be among the first to urge the commissioners to reconsider future earmarks for both the library and bridge project.