The Haines Borough Assembly approved a PERS termination study for the Haines Sheldon Museum, a necessary first step in the board of trustees’ plan to turn the museum into a nonprofit separate from the borough.
The study, a requirement under state law when a municipality eliminates a department, will tell the borough and the board how expensive it will be to transition current borough employees to a staff entirely overseen by the nonprofit. At present, the borough has one PERS employee. If it is determined that the employee will lose access to benefits due to the transition, the borough will be required to cover the cost of benefits the employee would have received.
Conducting the study is expected to cost between $5,000 and $10,000. The borough will use funds budgeted for the museum to cover the cost.
The PERS termination study could influence the feasibility of the museum board’s plan to restructure the organization.
“If (the study) determines that it’s way too costly for them to get away from the PERS, then it’s something they will reconsider during this process,” assembly member Gabe Thomas said at a meeting Tuesday.
The Haines Sheldon Museum is currently a quasi-governmental organization with attributes of both a borough department and nonprofit. Staff are employed by and paid for by the borough, which also owns the building, but the museum is run by the nonprofit, which owns the collection. Museum trustees and borough management agree that this model creates confusion, including issues regarding who is ultimately in charge of employees.
To address the issue, the board is moving forward with a plan that involves changing code and museum bylaws to reflect the facility’s independence from the borough, and transitioning staff from being borough employees to being nonprofit employees. Under this plan, the borough would remain responsible for maintenance of the building and would continue to provide financial support for the museum at a reduced level agreed upon in a memorandum of understanding.
In an interview Wednesday, interim borough manager Alekka Fullerton said borough staff are gathering information about the timeline for the termination study and hope to know more in the near future.