City may make ‘historic’ change for downtown museum
♦ Talks are underway to transition Rome Area History Museum management to the tourism office.
The board of directors of Georgia’s Rome has voted to continue discussions that could lead to the tourism office taking responsibility for day-to-day management and operations at the Rome Area History Museum.
City Manager Sammy Rich said he’s been engaged in ongoing conversations with the museum board about whether the city would be willing to take over the museum.
“We’re excited for the possibilities of what the museum can become,” said Janet Byington, VP of the RAHM Board of Directors.
“We’re up for the challenge,” said Tourism Executive Director Lisa Smith. “There are a lot of positive reasons to do this.”
The tourism office has satellite space in the Tribune Street frontage of the museum available. Smith said she has already put some thought into how her staff could make the museum more of a destination in Rome.
“We definitely want to keep their donor base intact,” Smith said. The museum would keep its tax-exempt status.
“The museum is debt free and financially stable, but funding will always be an issue,” said Byington. “Because we have so many wonderful nonprofits in Rome, we all compete for the same dollars. Our board feels tourism could bring in more opportunities to expand and improve the museum and we look forward to continued talks with Lisa Smith and her board.”
Smith said she has not factored anything related to taking on the museum into her proposed budget for 2020 which has already been submitted to city and county officials.
“There is a ton of potential there,” Mandy Maloney, a member of the tourism board and former Rome Area Council for the Arts executive director said.
However, it’s important to get a handle on expenses prior to a final agreement, tourism board member Harry Brock said.
Rich told the board the city already owns the building and pays for routine maintenance.
“There’s not a ton of risk involved,” Rich said.
The use of second floor space as special event space still serves as a revenue generator for the facility. Smith said she would rely on Brittany Griffin in the Rome-floyd Planning office to research grants that might be available to supplement revenue for the facility and take it to the next level.
Smith said she is already asking for a 12.87% increase in her budget for 2020, jumping from $862,000 this year to $973,500 next year.
She said that if negotiations with the history museum board do result in a transition that she would have to revisit her budget numbers.
Rich hinted that the museum management change could take effect as early as Jan. 1.