Board agrees to seek bids to install air conditioning upstairs at museum
Members of the St. Francis County Museum Board this week decided to begin working toward adding a new air conditioning unit for the upstairs at the museum.
Board members also heard an update from SFC Museum Curator Judy Sweet regarding the upcoming summer programing.
According to Sweet, the museum recently received funding thorough a project development grant from the St. Francis County Community Foundation, which is a matching grant of $5,000 that can be used for a new exhibit or improvements to the building.
"If we do not use the $5,000 for the exhibit, all we have to do is let them know that the money will be used in another way, like for air conditioning upstairs," said Sweet. "Robin (Jayroe, SFCCF Executive Director) said that there is no problem not using that for an exhibit as long as we let them know it has changed. The $5,000 is a matching grant so that would be $10,000 that we could use to put in air conditioning upstairs. It would have to come from the cultural foundation for the exhibit. If we use it for air conditioning, it can come from the capital improvement fund."
Board president Jason Ring said the board now has to decide to either install a new air conditioning unit for the upstairs area or add the paleontology exhibit that SFC Judge Craig Jones mentioned during a previous meeting.
"We need to decide where we want to match the funds from the project development grant," said Ring. "We need to decide if we want to pull it from the cultural foundation, which has $12,500, or from our capital improvement fund. I guess the next big thing we have to decide is what we want to do. Do we want to change out the parlor to put in the exhibit that the Judge wants us to put in? Do we think that is going to be $10,000 worth of work?"
"Not if you do the exhibit on the front porch," said Sweet. "If you do it to the parlor it is going to cost quite a bit."
"I move we take the funds from the maintenance fund and put in an air conditioner," said