The Boundary Museum was in a shambles this summer as a new executive director came in to take the reins of the tourist attraction.
Mathieu Drolet told city council Monday all the data on “thousands” of artifacts was lost and the pieces were not cared for.
“When I got hired at the museum, the artifacts were left on the floor, piled up, one of top of the other, in various states of decomposition. So I had to salvage most of these artifacts,” Drolet said.
He says the museum has installed shelving units in the basement to hold the keepsakes.
As for the data on the collection itself, he says that was lost.
“To get grants for museums you need to have proper software which helps the collection management. In that regard, we are acquiring the software which will help us to do a new inventory of our artifacts that are counted by the thousands,” he said.
Drolet says there was “almost no paper trail” when he started in July but was able to provide the city with up-to-date numbers.
Controversy swirled around the museum about a year ago at this time after some of the board of directors quit en masse. This happened after the city withheld its payment because the museum board hadn’t held an AGM for several years.
The executive director was making a fee-for-service pitch to council for $108,000 as he says the museum hasn’t had an increase in 15 years. The city would provide $82,232, Area D would contribute $20,000 and Area C would put in $5,000. Drolet says they are also looking for funding from various grant programs and senior governments.
The provisional budget handout shows the museum will cost $192,800 to operate in 2023 and will have revenue of $124,732, leaving a shortfall of $68,068.