Foundation to help keep museum hours

The members of the H. Earl Clack Memorial Museum board heard Monday that it’s funding foundation can step in to help with a funding shortfall.

“So we will maintain our same hours,” board chair Judi Dritshulas said.

Board budget committee member Val Hickman said during April’s meeting that the committee had found out that the county had been using a cash account to make up the difference between the board’s budget request and the amount provided by the county.

Hickman, who could not attend Monday’s meeting, said last month that the county was providing about $19,000 of the board’s annual $27,000 budget, with about $8,000 coming from the cash account. That account is used up, she said.

The board discussed last month that, as the top expenses are in employees’ pay, the only way to make up a shortfall would be to cut the museum’s hours.

H. Earl and Margaret Turner Clack Memorial Museum Foundation President Elaine Morse said Monday that at its last meeting, the foundation board agreed that it would try to help keep the museum open its full hours. Foundation meetings are not open to the public.

“The foundation has agreed to, some way, to hopefully make up the difference, but we don’t want anybody to think it’s were rolling in the dough because were not,” she said.