Grand Forks city council voted Monday, March 7, to return around $23,000 to the Boundary Museum Society (BMS), reversing council’s February resolution to park the money in the city’s 2021 revenue surplus.
READ MORE: Grand Forks’ council restores Boundary Museum funding
READ MORE: Boundary Museum Society to ask council for money withheld from previous board
Council froze BMS’s funding in November 2021, when the society’s previous board asked for the money without showing any financials, not having held an annual general meeting (AGM) in nearly two years. Council restored the society’s $83,200 annual fee for service on Feb. 14, but voted to hold onto the $23,000, which the interim board hadn’t specifically requested.
Mayor Brian Taylor brought that resolution up for reconsideration at chambers Monday, following objections from BMS’s interim board. The board wasn’t aware it had to ask for the withheld funds, interim vice president Christopher Stevenson told council at Monday’s committee of the whole meeting.
Having reconsidered, council unanimously voted down its Feb. 14 resolution. Coun. Cathy Korolek, who’d voted for now defunct resolution, then motioned a separate resolution to hand back the $23,000.
Coun. Thompson seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
BMS held a successful AMG at Grand Forks Legion hall Saturday, March 12, leaving off with a nine-member board. Membership swelled from around 40 last December to over 120 at mid-month. The new board will elect an executive at the society’s first regular meeting Tuesday, March 22.
The board hopes to re-open the museum at 6145 Reservoir Rd shortly before the May long weekend.
Stevenson said the board was grateful for city council’s and the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary’s renewed trust and for the outpouring of community support leading up to Saturday’s AGM.
BMS is looking for volunteers to help out at the museum. For more information, visit the society’s Facebook page by entering the search term @boundarymuseumsociety.
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