City Council Study Session Summary 2007 09 11

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City Council Study Session Summary September 11, 2007 Page 2 of 5 Historical Museum has exhibits and archives. She indicated that the Museum has generated the goodwill of the community from both the older and younger residents. Bacon said that the concerns are that because of the age of buildings, maintenance can be more costly. Other issues are storage for the archives, security both from a theft and a fire viewpoint, and how to handle visitors due to staff shortages. Bacon stated that to assist in the visitor issue they have created some alternative ways to distribute information, such as, "Louisville Historian" and the Holiday Home Tour. Bacon said that preserving records, artifacts and photos will continue in the future. Hauswald stated that the strength and success of the Museum is the result of 30 years of collecting artifacts, having two professional coordinators, being a resource to the community, and being located in the downtown area (central). Hauswald stated that the weakness of the Museum is that the coordinator position is only 20 hours a week resulting in a backlog of work and limiting the hours of operation for the Museum. She went on to say that the Commission feels that Museum buildings are secondary on the City's building maintenance list, resulting in delays to needed maintenance work. Hauswald went on to say that the threats to the future of the Museum are security from theft and from fire, insurance and the overall plan for the Museum over time. She said the opportunities are to expand the hours of operation and the educational programs. Hauswald listed the Historical Commission's Focus for 2007. The six projects that they would like Council to approve and assist them with are: 1. Painting the Museum buildings - Community Facilitator Meredyth Muth pointed out that there are lead paint issues with the Museum buildings which add to the cost 2. Fixing the front steps to make them more user friendly - Hauswald pointed out that there was a recent fall by one of the senior residents 3. General Maintenance of the Museum 4. Making the Coordinator's position full-time to increase the hours of operation of the Museum 5. Creating a Punch List with ongoing items so that the Commission is not having to shoulder the whole burden of maintaining the Museum Buildings 6. Utilizing all of the Museum buildings so that there is a positive return on investment. Council member Marsella inquired if any of this was part of the 2008 budget and Assistant City Manager Heather Balser responded that the 2008 Budget would be presented at the September 25th Study Session