Funding for new library sluggish

Development of Glacier Discovery Square as a community hub will cost an estimated $2.4 million, but fundraising for the project's initial lead tenant is complicated by the cautious approaches of two key funding sources.

The Columbia Falls branch of Flathead County Library had been considered the likely first occupant of the former First Citizens Bank building on Nucleus Avenue, but funding has lagged.

The $100,000 that the Flathead County Library earmarked for Columbia Falls in fiscal year 2008 won't be available anytime soon, said library director Kim Crowley in Kalispell.

"The project is still in a fundraising stage," she said, "and there needs to be a plan to raise all that money before we can proceed."

For another, the $74,187.02 that longtime Columbia Falls resident Mary Binsfeld gave to the library in 1996 is controlled by the Columbia Falls Library Association, which is waiting for action by the Flathead County Library.

"There's no written agreement between the county library and the city," said Holly Anderson, president of the association. "Someone needs to take the first step."

Flathead County Library does not own the five buildings in its jurisdiction, one of the largest in Montana. The city of Columbia Falls owns its library building, as does the city of Whitefish and its branch. The Bigfork branch is owned by the Community Fund for a Better Bigfork, the main library in Kalispell is owned by School District 5, and the Marion branch is owned by the local school.

Two-thirds of the money Flathead County Library collects through property tax levies, about $1.457 million for fiscal year 2010, pays the salaries of library workers. Capital purchases over $5,000, such as furniture and computers, become library property.

If the library district uses its $100,000 earmark to help pay off the $440,000 that First Best Place Task Force paid for Glacier Bank on Discovery Square, the district would own a quarter of the entire project, Crowley said.

The library association wants a new library, Anderson said, and will continue to work with the board of First Best Place Task Force.

David Renfrow, president of the task force and owner of Glacier DRS Inc., a door manufacturer based in Columbia Falls, said his group has had a 'very good dialog" with the library association.

"The short-term goals and longer term goals are mutual," he said, "as is the path to accomplish those goals. Both boards are carefully following the path. We can accomplish great things in this community if we work together, and empower both the older and younger generations with leadership for effective volunteerism. We all need to listen, adapt, and work hard."

Barry Conger, executive director of First Best Place, said the library district will contribute toward the development of the downstairs community space. Later on, he envisions the upper level becoming a "21st-century library," with 'social space."

"Most people think of libraries as tall stacks of bookshelves with dusty old books, and everybody's very quiet," he said. "We envision a community living room."

Conger said the library association "has been fun to work with" because the members are "library lovers' who support plans for the new site.

He said the public can expect to excavators on the Discovery Square site in about six months, preparing the north side for installation of an elevator and a skylight above the former bank building's underground meeting spaces. That construction will present the first phase of Discovery Square reconstruction, at a cost of $350,000. First Best Place has received commitments for about $300,000 so far.

"When people see the excavation begin," Conger said, "they'll know that this is for real, and that we're not just talking."