Museum Restructuring Committee

Norwalk Museum Restructuring Committee Minutes of Meeting/Tuesday October 2, 2012 Attendance: Patsy Brescia; Charlie Yost; Mary-Alice Fitzgerald; Mary Roman; Jim Brown; Rick McQuaid, co-chair; David Westmoreland, co-chair; David Park, secretary; Judith Bacal. David Westmoreland called the meeting to order at 5:31 pm. Patsy Brescia moved to approve the minutes of September 11, 2012. Motion APPROVED. David Park moved to approve the Norwalk Museum Interim Recommendations. Committee members discussed the report. David Park asked what the next steps may be to approve the report including the Norwalk Historical Commission, Land Use Committee, Common Council and the Mayor. Committee members discussed their opinions of the process and concluded it was a gray area that may be answered by the Corporation Council office. The Norwalk Historical Commission will be invited to the next meeting for discussion. David Westmoreland discussed item three in the report regarding signing a new lease for reduced space at the museum building in South Norwalk and questioned whether this is be a good idea considering we will most likely will be moving out and to the Lockwood House and the landlord will be asking for a 5 year lease with the first renewal option not until mid 2015 which is approx 2 ½ years. The committee had previously discussed a shorter lease at only one year. Committee members discussed moving out of the building right away to the storage area of the Health Department which could also be used as space for doing inventory and cataloging. There was a concern for moving twice and not having an accurate inventory of what needs to be moved. Jim Brown discussed his concerns on all the logistical details of moving the archives and collections and expressed caution in jumping into something that needs to be well planned. Rick McQuaid moved to table the motion. Motion APPROVED. Jim Brown discussed some of the details on getting the library space ready to receive the archives including new carpeting. The space should be ready by December. Jim Brown discussed the software needed for cataloging. The meeting was adjourned at 6:07 pm. Respectfully Submitted David W. Park acting secretary