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Yellowstone Gateway Museum board recommends temporary closure after flood, cites unsafe building systems
Summary
Museum staff reported a Feb. 19 flood and long-running HVAC and plumbing failures that staff say threaten collections and worker safety. The board agreed to seek county review, insurance and remediation steps and to present a resolution to the county commissioners.
Mark Brown, museum staff, told the Yellowstone Gateway Museum Board on Feb. 25 that the museum is facing “significant structural and environmental challenges” after a recent flood and years of deferred maintenance and recommended a temporary closure to the public.
Brown said a water pipe burst the morning of Tuesday the 19th, flooding lower-level collections and utility spaces, and that the building’s outdated electrical system has limited restoration work. “Given the significant health and safety risks to visitors, staff, and the museum’s collection, I strongly advocate for the temporary closure of the museum to the public,” Brown said.
The board’s discussion centered on immediate safety, preserving artifacts and next steps. Brown described plumbing that mixes multiple pipe materials, a hole under a public restroom sink that channels water beneath the building, and climate-control failures that produce temperature differences he said can “exceed[] 70 degrees” between spaces. He said about 6 inches of standing water was present in some rooms after the pipe burst, acid-free conservation boxes were lost, and undigitized maps, blueprints and some local newspapers from the 1980s were damaged.
The restoration firm on site, Buffalo Restoration of Bozeman, has begun mitigation work but cannot run the full set of dehumidifiers and blowers because the electrical system “lacks the capacity to support essential restoration equipment,” Brown said. He said asbestos and lead testing are underway and that mold remediation cannot proceed until testing and any abatement are complete.
Board members pressed for formal reviews by county officials. “I think there just needs to be a very clear cut… objective” standard to determine re-occupancy, board member Lee Whittlesey said during the discussion. Members asked Brown to contact the Park County health department and the county attorney, and suggested the county perform or authorize professional inspections and a formal occupancy determination before the museum reopens.
Board members also discussed insurance and funding options. Brown said the County is handling the claim through its insurance broker (Mako) and that the museum is pursuing freeze-drying for wet archives through contacts in Denver. Several board members urged using the board’s fundraising arm and private donors as short-term sources for repairs while pursuing long-term funding for a new facility. One board member said an HVAC replacement quote from about three years ago would now likely be “over a hundred thousand dollars.”
The board agreed to prepare a written letter and a resolution requesting a special meeting with the Park County commissioners to present the museum’s condition and request county action, including a re-occupancy decision and assistance identifying temporary office space for staff. Board members said staff should continue collections work off-site where needed, keep a small presence in the museum for security, expand off-site programs and virtual offerings, and prioritize artifact stabilization (including freeze-drying wet items) while the building’s status is resolved.
Votes at a glance: The board approved the November meeting minutes earlier in the meeting (motion by Bob Abinger; second by Lee Whittlesey; outcome: approved). The board later completed officer elections (George Borneman, president; Molly O’Neil, vice president; Becky Ehlers, secretary). Those internal votes were recorded by voice; the museum closure and the resolution to seek county action were discussed and supported by board members but were not recorded in the transcript as a formal, board-passed motion.
The board identified immediate next steps: (1) Brown will submit the written condition report to the county commissioners and insurance; (2) staff will seek asbestos/lead testing results and a health-department or county-authorized occupancy assessment; (3) prepare a proposed resolution and letter for presentation to the Park County commissioners at their March meeting; and (4) explore temporary office and storage options and fundraising strategies.
The board emphasized this is a public-safety and collections-preservation issue and asked that all remediation, testing and re-occupancy be cleared by the county and appropriate health and legal officials before reopening to the public.
