Hopefully the Watkins Museum will be able to rise from the ashes of its current controversy.

The Watkins Community Museum of History, which should be a gem of Lawrence, currently is in a sad state.

Attorneys were called in to sort out the details of the situation, but it’s now certain that former Director Steve Jansen is gone from the museum. Jansen, who has been under fire for several months, turned in his keys Thursday to the museum’s management committee, which was meeting in executive session. At the conclusion of the session, the committee offered Jansen a retirement package, but said he would consult an attorney before accepting any offer.

The board apparently has concluded that Jansen’s departure is essential to solving the financial and management problems at the museum. However, the board also shares a big responsibility for those problems and the inability to move the museum forward. If the museum now is to move ahead with a clean slate, the departure of at least some board members also may be in order.

Jansen may have shortcomings as a manager, but he nonetheless has played a key role in sharing and increasing interest in the history of Lawrence. His many contacts and talks throughout the community have brought Quantrill’s Raid and other major, as well as less notable, events in Lawrence history to life for many local residents. His role in promoting Lawrence history won’t be forgotten.

It is unfortunate that the museum board couldn’t come up with a plan that would preserve Jansen’s job as well as adding the administrative position the museum so desperately needs. It’s true that the situation that has existed at the museum for a number of years couldn’t be allowed to continue. Contention over the management of people and collections at the museum had cost the museum the support of many people interested in preserving and promoting Lawrence’s history.

The final straw was the Douglas County Commission’s edict that future county funding for the museum was in doubt if some changes didn’t occur. The commission was completely within its rights to make such a demand, but the departure of Jansen alone won’t solve all of the museum’s problems and undoubtedly will cost Watkins the support of many local residents loyal to the former director.

Members of the Watkins board now are in a deep hole that they must dig out of to regain both the financial and emotional support of the community. Perhaps the museum has hit bottom and, as Lawrence did after Quantrill’s Raid, will now rise from the ashes. It is vitally important that the board take whatever steps are necessary to get the museum back on its feet and on the road to claiming its rightful spot as the center of historical activity in the community.