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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Museum Of Science And History Advisory Committee - 04/07/2011 t • ECEIVEC APR 2 9 2011 MINUTES Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History CITYSECRETARY''S Advisory Committee Meeting April 7,2011 The Museum Advisory Committee met in the Museum's DeDietrich Conference Room at Noon on Thursday, April 7, 2011. Members Present: Jonda Holcomb, Robert Hatherill, Kathy Juneau,Tom Kimes, Shannon Madden, Luci Sosa, and Linda Tomo. - The minutes of the March 3, 2011 regular meeting were approved as presented. - Upon motion by Kathy Juneau and seconded by Jonda Holcomb, the absences of Tom Kimes, Luci Sosa, and Linda Tomo were excused. Business: a.Upon motion by Kathy Juneau and seconded by Linda Tomo,the Committee unanimously approved the deaccession and disposal of a variety of natural history specimens unassociated with the Museum mission, a Barnum and Bailey Circus poster in poor condition, large sketch of underwater life, and a variety of broken and/or unassociated artifacts. b. The City Council is mulling the projected $11.5 million shortfall for the City General Fund in FY 12. Due to the significant service reduction that will be necessary, public input is being solicited. 1. Six budget open house events are scheduled to give the public an opportunity to hear about the problem and ask questions. 2. A "budget calculator" is available on the City's web site that gives each citizen an opportunity to measure the relative support that each area of service should encompass in the City budget. 3. An invitation is going out to members of City commissions and committees for a briefing on the problem and the strategy being followed to develop the budget. City departments are implementing a zero-based budget approach that breaks down each department by basic service functions. Then evaluation criteria will be applied to each function establishing an assessment score. The criteria include three basic program attributes: whether there is a state, federal,or City Charter mandate to provide the service, whether the service is sustained by direct user fees, and whether demand for the service is growing or shrinking. Then there are six"program impact" criteria that minor the budget calculator that citizens are being asked to apply to the City as a whole. The resulting assessment score is among the tools that will be used to eliminate low scoring and low priority functions in each department. It is expected that the budget reduction for the Museum will be significant. Committee members were provided with a five year history of Museum revenues and expenditures and some basic information about selected service levels. The Committee reviewed the projects submitted by the Museum to the City CB' (Capital Improvement Plan) budget which is being put together at the same time as the operating budget. SCANNED c. Upon motion by Linda Tomo and seconded by Tom Kimes the July meeting of the Advisory Committee was cancelled due to its proximity to Independence Day and the absence of the Museum director from the City during the first ten days in July. d. Staff Reports • The project to renovate the three sets of public restrooms is underway with the South Building restrooms presently under construction. The project should be completed by mid May. • State budget reductions might curtail the Heritage Trails program sponsored by the Texas Historical Commission. That would significantly impact the Museum's collaborative marketing effort. • From Earth to the Solar System exhibit—May 10 through 29—is a traveling exhibit of high definition images of the solar system. It is scheduled to coincide with Journey week which is schedule for May 9— 13. The meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m.