Carter County museum advances expansion planning as county, museum staff vet lease and architect shortlist

The Carter County Museum is moving forward with a planned expansion and a parallel review of a written lease agreement, museum officials told the Carter County Board of Commissioners at the board’s Oct. 31 meeting. Museum representative Zabor Moore said the organization has received six architect proposals and will provide the county with a shortlist and the scoring rubric for the selection process.

Moore said the museum’s capital campaign stands at $4,500,000 and that a recent $25,000 donation will be used as part of the campaign’s matching funds. “The campaign is at 4,500,000.0,” she said. The museum is pursuing multiple grant opportunities, including community tourism grants and a federal planning-to-construction pathway through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.

The museum presented details about procurement and scheduling: staff plans to select an architect first, then issue a request for a general construction manager or construction contract. Moore said the team prefers a design-complete approach before bidding and anticipates starting the GCCM RFP in December with a hire as soon as January. She asked commissioners to review the RFP materials, including addenda and timelines, and to expect a recommendation and shortlist at the next meeting.

Commissioners and staff also discussed legal and financing constraints. An agency official highlighted statutory limits on county loans and collateral and warned that the county may be constrained in how it can provide direct financing or collateral for a private nonprofit’s expansion. The official said those restrictions could limit county-backed bonds or loan authority for the project, and recommended early conversations with the county auditor and counsel to identify a legally permissible financing structure.

Museum staff outlined program and staffing plans tied to the expansion. They reported five applicants for the paleontology lab-manager position, with interviews and hiring expected in time for a Dec. 2 start if a suitable candidate is selected. The museum detailed a proposed mix of grants and earned revenue to fund staffing, including a Bureau of Land Management cooperative assistance agreement ($20,000 year one, $10,000 year two) and a one-year U.S. Forest Service award ($7,500) to support fieldwork and curation. Moore said the museum intends to charge $10 to out-of-county visitors but keep admission free for county residents ‘‘in perpetuity,’’ estimating up to $75,000 annually from admissions as partial operating revenue.

Moore and county staff also described the museum’s outreach plans: a board meeting and a public Night at the Museum program are scheduled in the coming week, and staff will distribute a Google Drive folder with all RFPs and addenda so commissioners can review proposals. The museum plans to use preliminary architectural reports (PARs) to qualify for larger CDBG public-facilities grants (staff noted a likely request up to $750,000 in a later phase) and later community tourism funds.

What’s next: museum staff will email the lease revisions, RFP materials and the shortlist rubric to commissioners, and bring a formal recommendation to the board’s next meeting for further action. The commissioners and museum staff agreed to continue legal and financial conversations about any county lending, bonding or collateral that could be needed to close remaining funding gaps.