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Missoula museum to reinstate term limits, expand board; $350,000 grant secured
Summary
The board approved proposed bylaws changes for the historical museum to boost diversity and governance (adding a trustee seat, reinstating term limits, raising quorum) and learned the museum received a $350,000 MJ Murdock Charitable Trust award to finish a barracks project and climate‑controlled storage.
The Board discussed and moved forward proposed amendments to the historical museum’s bylaws that would expand the board and reinstate term limits while clarifying officer duties, and heard that the museum secured a $350,000 grant to finish a major capital project.
Commissioner Matt Letzekeiser said the changes are part of the museum’s partnership with the International Sites of Conscience and the Montana Black Collective and are intended to broaden representation. “One of the processes we’re going through as part of this partnership is we’re looking at both an internal and external change,” Letzekeiser said. He summarized the package of changes: a bylaws review committee to meet at least every three years, reinstating term limits (three three‑year terms for trustees), increasing the board size from six to seven and raising the quorum from three to four, and formally designating a board secretary separate from the executive director.
Letzekeiser said the proposed changes also remove a prior arrangement that had the executive director serve as board secretary, which the proposal treats as a conflict of interest. The board moved the bylaws forward after a motion and second; commissioners voted in favor to advance the amendments for formal adoption.
Following the governance discussion, Letzekeiser announced the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust awarded the museum $350,000 toward completion of the barracks project, which includes a new climate‑controlled collection storage building. “We put in a request for $350,000 to finish our barracks project. We were fully funded,” Letzekeiser said. He said the award should allow the project to be completed next year and will enable better storage for textiles and other collections.
Commissioners and staff congratulated museum staff on the grant. No formal additional funding actions were taken by the county at the meeting; the announcement was presented as news of external funding to the museum.
Next steps: the board advanced the bylaws package for formal adoption (the meeting record shows a motion, second and an affirmative vote to move the bylaws forward). The museum will proceed with the barracks project using the newly awarded grant funds.
