Pullman couple pitches parks foundation

The wooden sign for Kamiak Butte rests stoic at sunset next to a field of wheat.

Could Whitman County Parks use a fund-raising foundation? This was the question a Pullman couple posed to the parks council at a board meeting in Elberton on Aug. 12.

The short answer is “yes.”

The couple, Dick Domey and Diane Gillespie, approached parks board members about forming a foundation to help fund improvements to the park.

Domey said the sprawling beauty of Whitman County’s parks has captured he and his wife’s hearts for years - and they are anxious to help support these lands.

“What can we do to get more interest in the parks?” he asked the board.

Parks board members said the idea could be helpful now, when the county’s operating budget is squeezed tight by a rough economy, the parks department’s budget is feeling a particularly tight clamp.

“It’s certainly very relevant right now with all the budget cuts,” said park board member Steve Ulrich.

This year’s parks budget faced significant shortages and the department has been operating all year on a budget so tight Parks Director Tim Myers said it can’t be sustained long-term. Myers said the budget for the 6-park department is smaller this year than he has ever seen it.

“Is there anything you’d like to see we could add to your endeavors and efforts?” said Domey.

A foundation would bring together a committed board of volunteers who would raise funds and write grants to improve the county’s parks. Such a board could also advocate for the parks at state-level forums, Domey said.

A similar push was made to create the Palouse Empire Fair Foundation. Formed in 1998, the foundation has raised funding to make several improvements to the Mockonema fairgrounds.

Board members discussed the idea with Domey for more than an hour, deciding to try and set up some type of volunteer–driven event that would kick off the idea of a foundation.

“See how many people might be interested in volunteering and participating,” Gillespie said in a later interview.

Park board member Denny Cartwright said this is not the first time a “friends of the park” idea has come up.

“The whole friends of the park idea has come up a number of times,” Cartwright said. The idea has never been realized, though.

Myers pointed out that the parks department is more vulnerable to cuts from the Whitman County Commissioners because parks are not a service mandated by the state.

“When it comes to bottom dollars, they would cut us before the sheriff,” Myers said.