DESTINATION MANAGEMENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Special Meeting

MINUTES

01.08.09

Attendance: Judge Deanell Reece Tacha, Chair, Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area (FFNHA); David Corliss, City Manager; Craig Weinaug, County Administrator; David Dunfield, FFNHA Board member; Joan Golden, Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, Judy Billings, President & CEO; Charles Jones, County Commissioner; Jerry Cooley, City Attorney . Absent:  Sue Hack, City Commissioner.  A CVB Advisory Board representative has not yet been appointed by the Mayor. 

The special meeting of DMI was called to order by Judge Deanell Reece Tacha, Chair.  The sole purpose of the meeting was to receive a report from Jerry Cooley regarding the current status of title to Watkins Community Museum Building and Grounds.  Also to discuss reactions to the Museum Profile and Assessment Report and strategy to implement recommendations made in the report.

Cooley stated that the title to the real estate currently resides with the Douglas County Historical Society (DCHS).  The property was originally deeded to the City of Lawrence in the Elizabeth Watkins will for the purpose of broad public use without profit.  When the City moved out of the building, Raymond Rice orchestrated nine voluntary quit claim deeds by the beneficiaries assigned to DCHS.  As long as DCHS uses the building for a public museum, it holds the “occupancy” permit.

Through a county investment, DMI hired a consultant to deliver an assessment of the current condition of DCHS and the museum.  It is the opinion of the DMI Board that the report is well done and provides specific actions that must be followed in order to bring the organization to the level of community expectation.  The DMI Board further believes that the DCHS Board of Directors has yet to see the gravity of the situation and has not taken any action as a result of the report.

There was consensus that a dramatic change is needed from the current management of the building and the museum.  Further discussion regarding a strategy for effecting such change resulted in the following:

1)  A statement will be drafted by Judge Tacha with the help of Jerry Cooley articulating that the Douglas County Board of Commissioners has adopted an agreement with the DMI board to be the custodian of the financial investment made by the County in the Watkins Museum.  The Commissioners have the expectation that some dramatic changes be made to bring the museum up to the expectations that citizens of Lawrence and Douglas County have of the institution. 

This statement will be hand delivered to the DCHS Board of Directors as well as the media. 

2)  Tacha will meet individually with members of the DCHS Executive Board to inform them of the DMI expectations and actions to be taken.   Weinaug and Jones will brief the two new County Commissioners.   

3)  A Trusteeship Committee will be selected by the DMI Board to oversee the work of DCHS Board of Directors over the next year to see that appropriate steps are taken.  This committee will include Mike Wildgen, Interim Director of the Watkins Museum as well as five other individuals (including Craig Weinaug or Charles Jones representing Douglas County) who have demonstrated an interest in DCHS activities and responsibilities.

4)  Specific action steps will be developed by the DMI Board to give the committee direction for this oversight.  These will include recommendations made by the consultant for short term results with a goal of having the institution ready to engage fully in the activities of Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area and to participate in the 2011 Sesquicentennial of the beginning of the Civil War and Kansas Statehood.

5)  Billings will release the Museum Profile and Assessment Report as well as the DMI Statement to the media. 

6)  Tacha and Billings will meet with DCHS Board of Directors at its next regular meeting scheduled for January 20, 2009. 

It was decided to hold another special meeting of the DMI Board on Thursday, January 15 at 12:30pm in the City Manager’s office, City Hall. 

Future regularly scheduled meetings are:

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The meeting was adjourned.