Closing decimates Illinois State Museum management

By Chris Dettro
Staff Writer

Posted Dec. 27, 2015 at 10:00 PM
Updated Dec 27, 2015 at 10:43 PM

Union employees of the Illinois State Museum, which has been closed to the public since Oct. 1 over state budget issues, are keeping busy doing curation work and performing other duties, while about two-thirds of the museum’s management has either retired or found other jobs.

“Curation work needs to be done every day, and without the public being there, it has allowed more time for some of these things,” said Guerry Suggs, chairman of the Illinois State Museum Board. “Those employees who dealt with the public are doing whatever they can. There is productive work to be done.”

The state museum has about 13.5 million items in its collection.

The background

Without a state budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration believed it could save $4.8 million by closing the state museum and branch sites at Dickson Mounds, Lockport, Rend Lake and the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.

But a lawsuit filed in St. Clair County by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees at least temporarily stopped the layoffs of about 150 people employed at the museum and other state agencies. Rauner ordered the employees to continue reporting to work but closed the museum and related sites to the public.

The administration continued with layoffs for the 10- to 12-member museum management team, however.

The Illinois Senate passed a bill in August designed to keep the museum open, and the House passed it last month. The bill states that Illinois shall operate a state museum system at its current sites and that the sites should be open to the public. It also requires the state to operate a research and collections center in Springfield and to maintain access to those collections.

What’s next?

Suggs said the bill was delivered to Rauner on Dec. 9, and the governor has 60 days from that date to sign the bill, veto it or do nothing, after which it would become law. The legislature passed the bill with more than enough votes to override a veto.

Suggs said he thinks that even if the governor signs the bill — it is currently “under advisement” — it will amount to nothing more than an unfunded mandate. He thinks it is a longshot that the museum would reopen without a new budget.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which operates the museum system, also is hopeful for action on the budget front.

“We’re still waiting on a budget to see what resources are available,” said DNR spokesman Chris Young.

Suggs did say he felt the bill, if it becomes law, will be helpful to the museum in the future.

“Governors would be less likely to close the museum because the bill would give us the same status as the state fair,” he said.”

Should the museum reopen, Suggs said only three or four members of the management team, which ceased being paid when the museum closed, would be available for recall. The others have either retired or taken other jobs, he said.

All of the above is from:  http://www.sj-r.com/article/20151227/NEWS/151229688