Watkins Community Museum of History is getting some extra financial help, but it may come at a price.

Douglas County commissioners say they intend to give the Douglas County Historical Society, which runs the museum, $25,000 next year to hire a development officer. The employee would work to secure grants for exhibits, boost membership and bolster endowments for future needs.

The one-time grant would be in addition to $80,000 already set aside by the county to help finance museum operations, and it would retain the county’s role as the society’s largest annual benefactor. The county’s money will account for more than half of the society’s estimated $205,000 operating budget for next year.

Commissioners say they want to help the museum thrive after a management shakeup during the past couple of years, which led to last fall’s departure of longtime museum director Steve Jansen and the hiring of Rebecca Phipps, who started as director in February.

Commissioners had pushed for the change in leadership, while assuring museum officials that county support would be available during the transition.

Now they’re backing up their promises with money.

“We are in full partnership with the Watkins,” said Bob Johnson, commission chairman. “We want you to be successful.”

But commissioners are offering more than money. They also want to lend their advice, through a third party.

Commissioners say they want the ability to appoint a member to the society’s seven-member administrative committee. The committee effectively oversees the museum’s operations, with guidance from the society’s entire 18-member board, which is elected by the society’s 275 members.

An exhibit on Langston Hughes, featuring a sculpture of the writer as a boy, was displayed recently at the Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass. The Douglas County Commission is offering the museum additional funds this year to hire an employee to work to secure grants for exhibits, boost membership and bolster endowments for future needs.

Power play?

During recent budget hearings, commissioners were careful not to demand that they be granted a formal seat at the society’s leadership table — no matter how much money taxpayers cough up to help.

But the message was clear.

“Rather than saying, ‘This is the price of admission for future funding,’ let’s just say, ‘This is a good idea,'” Commissioner Charles Jones said, in proposing the county representation.

Added Commissioner Jere McElhaney: “It is a good idea.”

Phil Godwin, president of the society’s board, isn’t so sure.

¢ County to provide extra funds for museum (7-03-03)

Giving the county authority to appoint its own member would circumvent a representative process, he said. Currently all board members are elected by the society’s members, with the board left to elect its own officers and members for the administrative committee.

Granting any person or group preferred status would be “unwise,” Godwin said, even as the county’s $105,000 contribution would be more than twice the $45,000 in donations expected next year from corporate and individual members.

“My personal feeling is we have to rely more on memberships, corporate support and grants and reduce our dependence on the county,” Godwin said. “Not that I want them to quit giving us this much, but I think they have an inordinate investment in what we do. … You shouldn’t be answerable to anybody too much. You need to diversify. I believe in diversification.”

But the society and county are linked by more than money. The museum is located in the former Watkins National Bank building, which technically is owned by the county and is maintained with county funds.

A working relationship

The ties would grow even stronger, should the museum’s board accept the county’s offer.

“We’re saying, ‘OK, you’ve indicated that you’re willing to work with us, and we’ll work with you. We’ll help you help yourself,'” Johnson said. “And I’m confident that they will. I’m pleased with what’s happening.”

Not everybody is.

Tolly Wildcat said commissioners would be endorsing the museum’s inconsistent directions by spending money to hire a development officer. Wildcat and her husband, artist Wayne Wildcat, worked with Watkins’ Judy Sweets to land a grant from the National Park Service for an Underground Railroad exhibit at the museum, only to see the society’s board reject the service’s offer earlier this year, after Phipps deemed it a risky venture.

The museum’s motivations simply don’t add up, Tolly Wildcat said.

“It would seem odd for the county taxpayers to fund things that the museum has already gotten and in fact turned down,” she said.

Phipps, for her part, welcomed the county’s offer to help. The new development officer’s job description would be focused on responsibilities expected to generate enough money to cover the officer’s salary in future years.

As memberships, grants and other donations increase, she said, so could the museum’s reliance on taxpayers for help.

“It will help us become more self-sufficient,” Phipps said.

Informational impetus

Godwin said he was pleased that the county thought enough of the museum and its progress to grant an additional $25,000 for next year.

The suggestion to add another administrative committee member likely will be discussed during the society’s next board meeting, in September.

“I appreciate what they’re doing,” Godwin said. “We have the responsibility to prove to commissioners that we’re doing a good job. I appreciate the impetus they’ve given us to make some changes at the museum, and we’ve made some changes.

“They’re not trying to tell us what to do. Their real impetus here is not to run the museum. The impetus is to give them reliable information about what’s going on.”