Commissioners, museum staff share information, concerns

The Carbon County Museum announced they are well on their way to entering their new location at the Ferguson building at the Carbon County Commissioners meeting on Jan. 7.

Lauren Hunley, the education and outreach coordinator for the Carbon County Museum said that the success they had in 2013 will only improve moving forward.

“Our visitation of 2013 is the highest its ever been in the history of the Carbon County Museum. We have served 5,520 people (last year). A lot of this is because of our dedication to patron experience and the quality of our events and programming. In 2013, we instituted a lot of changes including partnerships with other organizations,” Hunley said.

The staff at the museum said that they are committed to improving the experience for their patrons. They said that in November, they had all become certified interpretive guides using the same certification process as the National Park Rangers. However, Hunley said that the museum needs to continue to improve.

Exhibits curator Corrie Aiuto said that marketing is essential for the Carbon County Museum.

Museum director Kelly Morris said that the fundraising process for the museum will be “very personal” which will include hand written thank you notes for people who donate.

However County Commissioner Sue Jones said that the museum must have a more structured relationship with the Carbon County Museum Foundation Board. The board carries the name of the museum, but does not share the same mission statement. This creates some uncertainty for the museum itself.

“The way that they have designed our foundation is that they decide what they do with their money,” Kelly Morris said. “And it doesn’t necessarily automatically come to us. We are going to have to have some kind of agreement with the foundation as we move forward. We need to know that the money is coming back to the museum.”

Not having a guarantee of where the money is going is a concern for Jones.

“(The museum’s) donors are going to want to know where their money is going,” Jones said. “These things need to be set up and really detailed.”

The Carbon County Commissioners will meet next at 9 a.m., on Jan. 21 in Rawlins.