By Debby Woodin

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

After hearing the testimony of 21 people Tuesday night before an overflowing crowd, the Joplin City Council voted 7-2 to place on the April ballot a tax question that would finance remodeling of Memorial Hall for use as a local museum.

Voters will be asked to authorize a special museum sales tax of one-sixth of a cent to pay off $7 million in debt that would be used to remodel Memorial Hall for use as exhibit and meeting space for the Joplin Museum Complex.

After the loan was paid off, the tax would be reduced to one-eighth of a cent to support operations of the museum. Brad Belk, the museum director, told the council that the museum staff would increase from 4.5 positions now to about 12 for the larger Memorial Hall museum. Annual operating costs would increase from about $214,000 now to $1.3 million, according to information discussed at the council meeting.

Post 13 opposed

Members of Joplin’s American Legion Post 13 went on record at the meeting as being opposed to using the hall, dedicated to war veterans, as a museum, though a representative of a Carthage veterans group attended the meeting to voice approval.

The museum’s plan includes an exhibit space that would focus on veterans and Joplin’s war efforts, adding two seats on the board of directors for military veterans, and continued use of meeting rooms in the hall for veterans’ activities, said Clair Goodwin, museum board president.

“We’re obviously very pleased,” said Belk of the council’s decision.

“I thought we presented a very good plan, and I think we managed to convince people it was a good plan,” Goodwin said. The museum board will likely put together a group to make presentations in the community about the proposal to try to win voter support. “We will keep veterans highly visible in this plan,” Goodwin pledged.

The museum director and some board members presented details of the plan to the council last month and asked for a decision this month in time to place the tax question on the April 6 ballot.

At Tuesday night’s meeting, Belk told the council that museum officials have looked for 10 years for an option to expand the museum, either by relocating or building. He said Memorial Hall is attractive because it is located on the former Route 66 in Joplin’s downtown and can be placed on historic registers, yet can be remodeled and equipped to offer expanded gallery spaces, a grand hall for events, classrooms and laboratories for student learning, and other amenities.

He submitted a number of letters of support from groups involved in historic preservation efforts.

Asked by Councilman Bill Scearce whether the Union Depot would be suitable for the museum’s purpose, Belk said the museum board had looked at it five years ago and determined it was not large enough, was polluted with contaminants, would require extensive and costly infrastructure work, and was not as visible a location as Memorial Hall.

In support

Testimony in support of the proposal came from a number of business leaders.

Bob Harrington, a former City Council member, said he served on a council committee in 1998 that studied the needs of Memorial Hall and its potential to be more productive. That panel concluded that the building would have to be expanded to accommodate modern trade shows and concerts, and that it had limited function in its current state. He said a museum would be a draw to downtown.

Christine Brock, a student at Missouri Southern State University, said she has decided to go into the field of textiles and costuming as a result of work she did with her theater class with a textile collection the museum owns that cannot be displayed because there is no space for it.

“There are thousands of garments that need to be shown,” with clothing and accessories worn by local residents dating to the Civil War era, she said.

Linda Lindquist Baldwin, an artist who annually holds a show and sale at the museum, said her event attracts 300 people from across the United States to Joplin. “It’s a great event, but we’re out of room,” she told the council. She also said she possesses a number of World War II items that she would donate to the museum, but that its current location has no space for storing or displaying them.

Gary Duncan, president and CEO of Freeman Health System; Bill Gipson, president and CEO of Empire District Electric Co.; and Dan Stanley, a stockbroker, were among those who spoke in favor of the proposal.

Those who voiced opposition included the city’s parks advisory board, represented by Chairman Doug Ashton.

He said the board would like to see more cultural opportunities for residents. He said it supports the museum and recognizes its needs for expansion, “but we would like to do more research before we decide whether to support it.” He said the board believes that a tax proposal for the museum this year might endanger voter approval of an extension of the parks and stormwater sales tax that sunsets in 2012, which could jeopardize further park development.

Howard Spiva, commander of the American Legion’s Post 13, said the hall was dedicated for use as a convention center for veterans.

“I respect the museum, but I don’t think it should be placed in a building for veterans,” he said. “It was built by veterans and dedicated forever as a convention center for veterans.” Spiva proposed expanding Memorial Hall for use as a convention center.

Toby Teeter said the council has an obligation to residents to look into other possibilities that might be cheaper for taxpayers or more beneficial to other components of downtown.

Council views

After hearing the testimony, some council members asked questions or expressed their views on the proposal.

Councilman Phil Stinnett said that if voters accepted the proposal, the city budget would no longer have to support both the museum and Memorial Hall. It costs the city about $400,000 a year to operate the hall, he said.

He and Scearce said the voters should be allowed to decide the issue. Stinnett also said he does not believe it would be possible to expand Memorial Hall to achieve broad use because that would involve trying to buy expensive neighboring properties or using eminent domain.

Mayor Gary Shaw and Councilman Jim West cast the two votes against the proposal. Shaw said he believes that a proposal that would address funding for more of the cultural segments in Joplin should be considered, and that the council should look further for ways to save Memorial Hall.

West said he is opposed to increasing taxes.





Hearing



The City Council’s action came after a hearing that lasted 1 1/2 hours. Fourteen people testified in support of the tax proposal and the museum plan. Seven testified against them or against proceeding without further study.