At a Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners meeting (date not specified), Joseph Kovednick, museum director at the Cowlitz County Historical Museum, briefed the board on recent operations including safety issues, facility maintenance and educational programming.

Kovednick said facilities staff and a contractor now expect the museum’s new reader board to be operational in late September or early October. "Originally, it was gonna come in in August, but it looks like either late this month or early October, so it should be operational in October," Kovednick said.

He described recurring undesired activity on museum grounds — trash encampments, graffiti, and discarded syringes — while noting the county has added lighting that staff and commissioners said has reduced after-hours activity. The museum reported 16 work orders since March, including two at the fairgrounds and several cleanup responses.

Kovednick highlighted community projects and programming: an Eagle Scout project to rehabilitate the county’s historic jail (donations of materials by Baker Lumber and Steelscape; volunteers from the sheriff’s office and the scout troop contributed labor); the spring art show in partnership with the Columbia Artists Association; First Thursday speaker programs; and a grant application to the Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation to document artifacts related to a 1947 B‑25 crash.

He emphasized the museum’s educational outreach: a traveling “trunk” program for local schools that is operating at capacity and expanding each year, partnership events with the Children’s Discovery Museum that reached over 1,000 attendees across three events, and growing senior-program outreach into senior centers.

Why it matters: the museum’s community programs (school outreach, festivals and speaker series) serve local educational and tourism roles, while facility issues (vandalism, safety) affect operations and maintenance budgets.

Next steps: the museum will continue coordination with facilities and contractors on the reader‑board installation; staff will pursue grants and partnerships for exhibits and outreach.