Sustain Blaine doesn't know if it needs $5,000 or $20,000 from the county, representatives of the economic development corporation said Monday.
"There are opportunities for us to do more for the community," Executive Director Harry Griffith said during a county budget request.
Officially, Griffith and Sustain Blaine fundraising chair Joy Kasputys asked the county for $5,000 of public funding during Monday's meeting. Griffith said that was a bare-bones amount, enough to "keep the doors open" for another year.
Griffith and Kasputys said Sustain Blaine's participation in an energy summit hosted by the Environmental Resource Center suggested that the group could fill an important role in leading Blaine County toward a future in clean energy.
But with greater involvement comes a greater need for resources, Griffith said.
"We're straining to deliver the things we already agreed to," he said. "If we're going to take that on, we're going to need additional resources."
If Sustain Blaine does choose to take a lead role in implementing an action plan for clean energy, expected to be released by consulting firm New Energy Cities by the end of the summer, Sustain Blaine's funding request could jump to $20,000.
That's the same amount that was requested for fiscal 2011, though much of that funding was given to the group last month as interim funding rather than during the regular budgeting cycle.
County Commissioner Angenie McCleary said she would need a formal request for the $20,000 if the county were to consider funding Sustain Blaine to that level.
"If there's going to be an additional request, I'd like to see an additional request actually made," she said Monday.
Commissioner Larry Schoen said that while he was "impressed" with Sustain Blaine's prior efforts and the results of the energy summit, he wasn't convinced the county should increase funding for Sustain Blaine on that basis.
"I think you need to expand the buy-in," Schoen said, adding that the organization should look more toward outside funding from the private sector.
"We're open to these ideas, but it's going to have to start with you guys because we are at our capacity," Schoen told Sustain Blaine representatives. "Everybody needs to play a part."
Griffith said the Sustain Blaine advisory board would discuss its budget request during its meeting on May 4 and revise it for county reconsideration in June.
Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com
