CITY COUNCIL PRESENTS, DISCUSSES CHANGES TO MUSEUM LEASE AGREEMENT
Lease changes between the City of Brenham and the Brenham Heritage Museum were discussed during today’s (Thursday) City Council meeting.
City Attorney Carey Bovey gave details regarding a revised lease agreement between the two parties. According to Bovey, the new lease would extend the term to 50 years. This would allow the museum, at 105 South Market Street, ample time to seek grants for the necessary repairs and renovation.
The new lease would also give the museum some latitude in making changes to the interior of the building. In addition, the city would take responsibility for maintaining the building’s roof and foundation. All other repairs would fall upon the museum. Before the museum closed last August due to electrical code violations, it was solely responsible for all maintenance and upkeep. Repairs are expected to cost more than half a million dollars.
This lease would require the museum to staff the Brenham Fire Museum at least four days a week, and the city would get two seats on the museum’s board of directors.
Finally, the city states that the museum must begin repairs by April 1, 2020, and it must open to the public no later than October 2021.
The museum board has not seen these changes to the lease. The city was to discuss the changes in executive session, and expects to have a draft sent to the Heritage Museum by the end of the week.
This structure is truly unique in Brenham and all efforts should be made to repair and restore it. Please move forward.
Could you outline a couple strong reasons we-as-taxpayers should expend so much effort and expense on this particular building? “Unique” is not necessarily a quality; Ol’ Man So-and-So’s falling-down hot-pink shed is ‘unique,’ but probably not worth preserving. What makes this former post office building so special?
I’d just quit the location, and let the city figure out what to do with their own albatross. Not exactly sure why the museum should be responsible for any of this. Frankly, I wish the Fed had torn the building down when the post office vacated, because it doesn’t really fit where it stands, and Tom would have a better view if it were removed. But I hear it can’t be torn down for some reason?