09-05-2002
1 Minutes Board of Trustees Meeting September 5, 2002 Present: Sandra Criner Kimberly Mash Virginia Chiarello Eleanor Grace Mosley-Byrd Parks Griffin Bernhard Thuersam Ann Griffith Richard
Trask John Haley, Ph.D. Absent: Jerry Mannen, Esq., Tanky Meier, Dr. Barton Williams, David Brownlow. Also Present: Ruth Haas, Museum Director Pat Voelker, Administrative Support Specialist
The Board of Trustees of Cape Fear Museum opened its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, September 5, 2002, at 5:10 p.m. in the Williston Auditorium, with Mr. Bernie Thuersam, Chairman
presiding. I. Consideration of Absences: Jerry Mannen and Tanky Meier excused. Dr. Bart Williams, excused or unexcused?? II. Corrections/Additions to August Minutes: Mr. Thuersam asked
for additions or deletions to the corrected minutes of the August meeting. There being none; he entertained a motion to approve. Kimberly Mash moved, Parks Griffin seconded and the minutes
were unanimously approved. III Mr. Thuersam thanked Ms. Haas for the new meeting agenda format. He reported that he had �
�Civil War Flags of North
C. He is unique �
�and gives a history of each flag. Mr. Dedmondt visited the Museum to look at the Civil War flags in our
collection, which will be included in his book to be published early next year.
2 IV. Associates Report:
on Monday, September 9th to discuss funding a full time development director. Mr. Thuersam, Mr. Griffin and Ms. Chiarello will be attending from the Board of Trustees. There
will also be discussion on other requests we would like the Associates to fund for the Museum. V. Committee Reports: Building and Grounds Committee Ms. Griffith reported that the Building
and Grounds Committee met on August 15th with the �
�exterior cladding materials and color samples. The project is to begin by mid-September and will take 150 days to complete. Stairway improvements
were discussed with the expectation that a construction contingency might be adequate to repair and upgrade the stairs to a safety level at the end of the project. The project was submitted
to the County Commissioners on August 19th and approved. The Committee discussed landscaping potentials and possibilities and Ms. Griffith spoke with master gardeners at the Arboretum
about the possibility of giving the Museum some of their expertise. They will let us know if it is feasible to assist us. Museum air quality was tested and found to be free of contaminates.
NHC Property Management will address areas for improvement including ductwork, vent maintenance, and removal of stored supplies from the mechanical room. On August 5th, the Committee
met with Mr. David Sims and Mr. Max Maxwell to review the construction cost estimate for HVAC repairs, which totaled $96,800. The Committee recommends that up to $100,000 be designated
from Grassroots Science Reserve money to support these repairs. The question was raised if we can use Grassroots Science money for HVAC repair. Ms. Haas stated that this is a very appropriate
use for the money because it provides long-term support for the Museum to function as a science center. Chairman Thuersam asked for any objections to the Building and Grounds Committee
recommendation. There were none and the recommendation passed unanimously. Collections Committee Ms. Mosley-Byrd reported that the Collections Committee will meet on October 3rd along
with the Public Relations Committee. Public Relations Committee No report. Long Range Planning Committee Mr. Griffin recommended approval of the amendment to the by laws to change Article
IV, Section A., bcommittees
will meet in the other months.
3 The Board discussed the schedule for committee meetings and the number of times a committee should meet during the year. For most committees, meeting three times per year should be
sufficient but committees could meet more often if necessary. The Board also discussed adding language into the by laws that ties the committee meetings to the Trustees meetings to insure
that committees will meet in the future. If this language is added now, the Board cannot vote for another month for the by law change. The Board voted and the by law change to hold Trustees
meetings every other month passed unanimously. The Board then re-addressed the issue of the frequency of the committee meetings. After further discussion, Mr. Griffin moved that we add
clause F to the by laws in Article VII to read
passed unanimously. This must be voted on for approval at the next meeting. Finance Committee Ms. Chiarello reported on the Finance Committee meeting held August
29th. The Committee agreed that due to ongoing budget reductions, the Board of Trustees and CFM Associates, Inc. need to work together to assure funding for Museum priorities. With no
objections, the Board, at 5:45 pm, went into a closed session pursuant to Statute 143-318.11. Following the closed session, Mr. Thuersam called the meeting back into open session at
6:04p.m. No action was taken in the closed session. Staff was asked to continue to investigate the issue. Ms. Chiarello endorsed the growing need for a full time person for fund raising.
Ms. Haas stated that such a position could be unique a County position funded by the Associates. Such a
for the Board of Trustees to advise the Commissioners as to what the the position entails
and the benefits of a public/private partnership. Ms. Haas proposed a draft budget containing several salary levels since the position grade has not yet been determined. All of the supplies
this person would need at start up including a computer and all benefits would be paid for by the Associates. The Finance Committee recommends that we ask the Associates to fund and
hire a development director. Chairman Thuersam asked for objections to the recommendation. There being none, it was adopted. This information will be communicated to the Associates.
�
�allocation of $50,000. The rest of
the state allotment is distributed using a formula based on the th highest funded
museum of the 18 science centers. This year, we have taken a 10.47% budget cut on the allocation. If that holds, we should receive close to $180,000; last year we received approximately
$170,000. Education Committee Dr. John Haley reported for the Education Committee. Staff and Education Committee members met with representatives from two of the five exhibit design
firms who submitted proposals to assist in developing an exhibit master plan. Both were from Northern Virginia. The reviewers agreed that The PRD Group, Ltd. provided the most experience
and would be the better choice
4 for our project. Mr. Thuersam raised the concern of not giving local or regional firms the opportunity to do County projects. Ms. Haas noted that an open RFP process was followed.
The Education Committee recommended that the contract to obtain a long-term exhibits master plan be awarded to The PRD Group and the $23,000 fee come from Grassroots Science reserves
funding. Mr. Thuersam asked for any objections to adopting the recommendations. There being no objections, the recommendation passed unanimously. Ms. Haas stated that this money and
the funds for the HVAC work would go to the Commissioners for approval. Ms. Haas announced that a program would be held
at the Museum on September 11th from 1:00pm until 3:00pm. New audio-visual equipment will be installed this weekend, which will be used to present a CD-�
�provide materials for people to write their own stories and will take photographs in order to
5:00pm that day we are co-sponsoring a WAAV Forum that
will be held at Legion Stadium. We sold our 100th star in our Be A Star Program today. The CFM 2003 calendar is coming along beautifully. We have already sold 13 ads. If this succeeds,
we hope to do it again next year. The Museum school programs start soon, and we are working on the foodways exhibit, which will open in November. Dr. Haley asked that with all the recent
rain, did we have any water in the Museum basement? Ms. Haas reported that the basement has remained dry. VI. Other Business: Mr. Thuersam expressed his interest in having the Museum
hold a Colonial Cape Fear History �
�about the recent opening for a historian and whether a Ph.D. was required because he knew a local candidate had not applied for that reason. Ms. Haas explained
that there was no �
�were qualified for applying. During the interview process, the candidates who had pursued an advanced degree beyond masters, were stronger in their ability to express and formulate
the complexities of issues and did emerge as the most viable candidates. Mr. Thuersam indicated that since the Museum has a mission for local history, the best way to accomplish this
is to advertise and hire local and regional people who have a sense of the history of the South and of this region. Ms. Haas indicated that advertising was done locally, and there were
local candidates considered. VII. New Business: No new business. Adjournment: Mr. Thuersam entertained a motion to adjourn. Mr. Trask moved. Ms. Mash and Ms. Mosley-Byrd seconded. The
motion passed unanimously and the meeting concluded at 6:35p.m.
5