Goal line keeps moving for library capital campaign

In its June 8 edition, the Daily Inter Lake editorial board states that the county library board and its fundraising arm, the Flathead Library Foundation, would do well to work together instead of being derailed by “stubbornness and egos.” 

I heartily concur. But the editorial board would do well to know the facts before publishing its opinion.

There’s never been a disagreement between the library board and the foundation board on support for a new library. To a person, everyone is in agreement. The only disagreement is in the wording of a capital campaign agreement that dictates the responsibilities and authority of the respective boards. After going back and forth with the foundation board on numerous iterations, the library board approved a capital campaign agreement in March, and the director for the foundation verbally agreed to it. 

Later, the foundation changed its mind and sought to change the verbiage. Some of the changes gave authority to the foundation that goes beyond what the foundation does: Raise money. 

As a library board member, I cannot vote for those changes. 

Additionally, the foundation is demanding things from the county commissioners, which is something our library board cannot control. 

Rarely is a capital campaign undertaken in which conditions for fundraising and building are ideal. It’s certainly not the case in this instance. As library board trustee Carmen Cuthbertson stated, and I paraphrase, if an ideal situation is required to move forward, we might as well give up now. 

Compromise is the way to reach the goal line, but no one likes it when the goal line keeps moving, and that has been the case regarding the capital campaign agreement. 

I might add that the Bigfork branch was built without a capital campaign agreement. Our vote in May just suspended the effort of wordsmithing. In the library board’s opinion, the campaign agreement that we worked on for months and that was agreed to is the version we should move forward with. 

We hope to continue working with the foundation on raising funds for a new library in Kalispell, with or without a formal campaign agreement. 

Doug Adams is a Flathead County Library Board trustee.