Board asks staff for more analysis on museum collection after 5 Oaks closure; seeks options for transition and community ownership

Joe Nelson, director of Assessment, Taxation, Records and Elections, updated the board on Washington County’s stewardship of the former 5 Oaks Museum collection and facilities after the museum closed on Dec. 29, 2024.

Nelson said the county now holds two primary parts of the collection: paper records (including photos, maps and documents) totaling about 1,115 cubic feet, and physical artifacts occupying about 19,249 cubic feet. He described the scale to illustrate the inventory challenge: "If you're looking at 1,115 paper records, you're talking 63 of these raised gardens. If you're talking 19,249 physical artifact records, you're talking 1,200 raised gardens," he said.

Staff presented four broad options for the board to consider: - Option 1, deaccession to museum standards: a careful, museum‑standard disposition of artifacts (estimated about five FTEs over five years—roughly $5 million total). - Option 2, surplus under government-asset standards: a government surplus disposition with a shorter…