Haines Sheldon Museum director Helen Alten at the exhibit From Forest to Finish: A Story of Wood in the Chilkat Valley. (Henry Leasia / KHNS)
The board of the Haines Sheldon Museum voted to eliminate the museum director’s position due to a lack of funding. But the museum’s former director says that her position was covered by funding from grants.
Helen Alten had served as the director of the Haines Sheldon Museum since 2014. She said she was blindsided by the decision to eliminate her position.
“They never discussed this with me. They went into executive session, came up with this idea. I had made the proposal that everybody would have a job for a year and they came back with everybody has a job but you,” Alten said.
According to the Haines Borough’s fiscal year 21 budget, the museum director’s salary is $66,000 with an additional $40,000 budgeted for benefits like health insurance and retirement. The museum board’s treasurer John Carlson said the Haines Sheldon Museum cannot afford that right now.
“There’s no funding for a position like that. And in the future, as you can tell everything is too uncertain right now,” Carlson said. “It was a horrible meeting to have to come to the consensus we did, but what do you do?”
The museum will receive $180,000 from the Haines Borough this year. That’s $60,000 less than last year. Carlson said that budget cut made it difficult for the museum to survive.
“Helen was fabulous. She got these fabulous grants and everything, but we can’t just keep operating on hoping we’ll get a grant,” Carlson said.
Alten recently helped secure a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to pay museum staff’s wages through the end of the year. The board felt that grants are not a sustainable solution for funding museum employees.
Alten questioned whether the board can terminate the employment of the museum director on its own. The museum director serves at the direction of the board of trustees, who also control the museum’s budget. But according to Haines Borough Code, when the museum hires a new director, that decision must go through the mayor and borough assembly.
In a phone call with KHNS, Haines Borough Clerk Alekka Fullerton said that the museum board is the decision-making body for the museum even though the borough is involved in managing some aspects of the staff’s payroll.
Museum Board President Kelleen Adams said she could not comment on the decision immediately, but would be releasing a formal statement in the coming days.
Alten said she was asked to turn in her key to the museum. Absent a director, the museum board itself will now be in charge of managing the space.
"board" - Google News
July 04, 2020 at 01:47AM
https://ift.tt/3ioxA0d
Haines Sheldon Museum board of trustees eliminates the museum director position - KHNS Radio
"board" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KWL1EQ
https://ift.tt/2YrjQdq
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Haines Sheldon Museum board of trustees eliminates the museum director position - KHNS Radio"
Post a Comment