ImagineIF Bigfork Library project remains in limbo

The effort to move the ImagineIF Bigfork library into a new building remains on hold for now.

The capital campaign organized by the ImagineIF Foundation has raised over $800,000 of their total $1.6 million goal. The foundation purchased the Bethany Lutheran Church Ark Building for $475,000 in December 2018 with hopes to gift the property to the county in the future.

The ImagineIF Library Foundation saw Executive Director Charlotte Housel resign from her position this month, citing burnout and a strained relationship with the ImagineIf libraries board of trustees as her reasons for stepping down.

“I took this job because of the exemplary job the library was doing and the inspiring and positive impact it was having on the community. But this past year has been a tough one. The library was at the tip of the spear and now it’s struggling to maintain any level of service,” she said in a recent article with the Daily Inter Lake.

Housel said donations to the capital campaign are restricted funds, meaning they can only be used for the intended purpose. She said the money would be returned to donors if the project falls through, which has been the case since the campaign was created in 2019. The foundation is in the process of a preliminary property transfer agreement with the county or ImagineIF Library board of trustees. But, Housel said there's been no movement on that front.

ImagineIF Library Foundation Executive Administrator Vanessa Barrett said the Foundation is working hard to find a replacement for Housel, adding that their hiring committee has been very focused on finding a candidate that has the skills and capacity to step in mid-campaign and hit the ground running.

“We're very committed to seeing this project to completion, and are hiring with that top of mind,” Barrett said.

She said the Foundation is working on a few goals that need to be met in order to maintain the momentum created on the campaign. This includes getting new Library Director Ashley Cummins up to speed on the project so she can join the Foundation as a campaigning and fundraising partner. Cummins started the position this month.

Barrett said another goal is finding a public entity to accept ownership and maintain the Bigfork library in the public trust.

“The Foundation, library leadership, and campaign volunteers are working to ensure that the gift of this facility is accepted by a public entity like Flathead County or the Library’s Board of Trustees,” Barrett said.

She said it’s also critical that ImagineIF receives enough public funds to maintain and operate this library once it’s open. She said once they raise $1.1 million they can begin the renovation process. $1.6 million will be needed to fully fund the renovation, furnishing, collection expansion and parking and landscape development at the new facility.

Recently, the Flathead County Commissioners drafted a letter to the library board regarding property proposed to become the future home of the Bigfork library. In the letter, the commissioners said they will not commit to assuming any property responsibility for the library system at this time.

The ImagineIF Library Board discussed the letter at their February meeting, where board trustee Doug Adams chalked the letter up to a miscommunication. He claimed commissioners want more information about the property before making a decision, and that a recent draft transfer agreement sent to the commissioners lacked an inspection document and estimate for future building maintenance costs which was requested.

The board said a future discussion with trustees, the commissioners and representatives from the ImagineIF Foundation board are expected and that they remain committed to the property transfer.

“I’m still optimistic that we can come up with a plan to work with them on that,” Adams said.

Adams told the Bigfork Eagle not much has changed since the February meeting regarding the project. He said he is waiting to set up a meeting with the county commissioners until the new library director has “had a little time to settle in.” Library director Ashley Cummins began work at the library in mid-March.

Adams said he is hoping they can meet and make some progress discussing the project in April.