By Mark Waite
The Pahrump Valley Museum is open again, after being closed since January except for the monthly lecture series.
The closure was blamed on the need to draw up a new contract between Nye County and the Pahrump Valley Museum and Historical Society on allocating the tax receipts.
Property owners pay a tax of 1.1 cents per $100 of valuation into a museum fund.
Phil Huff, vice-chairman of the Pahrump Museum and Historical Society, said the new arrangement will give more autonomy to the board.
“We’ve been closed three months in a reorganization with the county. Since the opening of the museum in 2003, the museum has been operated by the Pahrump Museum and Historical Society, a 501 c 3 manned by volunteers and some hired people. The funds for operation of the museum derive from the property tax,” Huff said.
“We have decided during the reorganization the Pahrump Museum and Historical Society could assume full responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the museum and the finances from the taxes. A memorandum of understanding, MOU, between the county and the Pahrump Museum and Historical Society gives us the responsibility for operating the museum and supplying the necessary insurance coverage,” he said.
Nye County will provide payroll and financial services as well as pay all expenses for operations out of the museum fund. The MOU, approved by county commissioners March 1, requires employees and contractors at the museum to have signed contracts, but gives the museum and historical society sole supervision of its employees. All employee related insurance and taxes will be the responsibility of the society. A public liability insurance policy of $500,000 per person and $1 million per occurrence will be maintained, Nye County itself will be held harmless from any claims filed against the museum.
The property tax is split between the Central Nevada Museum in Tonopah and the Pahrump Valley Museum, Huff said.
The museum was closed temporarily from June 11, 2009 to July 14, 2009 due to concerns over the liability insurance when former museum employee George John Weisser filed a lawsuit.
The public will now be able to view Yucca Mountain exhibits, which take up most of the new addition. County commissioners in May 2010 allocated $251,000 to move the exhibits from the Yucca Mountain Information Center on Postal Road, operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, and rebuild them at the museum.
The Yucca Mountain exhibits include a small model of the tunnel boring machine, touch screen videos explaining the history of the project, non-radioactive fuel rods, like the type that were to be shipped to the repository and other displays.
A congressional delegation that visited Yucca Mountain from the House Energy and Commerce Committee in April staged a press conference in favor of resurrecting the nuclear waste repository project at the museum addition this spring.
The 50-foot by 95-foot metal building addition was built after county commissioners approved a $222,680 contract with Franklin Construction Services of Las Vegas in March 2010. Besides the Yucca Mountain exhibits there is room for 100 chairs for the lecture series.
Mike Voegele and Bob McCracken, who shared most of the $251,000 county contract for the Yucca Mountain exhibits, are now members of the Pahrump Museum and Historical Society board. Phil Raneri remains as president. Huff is vice-president in place of Mary Ford, the widow of museum founder Harry “Button” Ford who died last month. Huff is also acting treasurer in place of Harry Ford.
The museum will be open new hours, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday, Huff said. It was previously closed on Sundays and Mondays.
An employee has been hired to staff the museum, but there is no longer anyone cataloguing the historical inventory, Huff said, a job that was performed by history professor Rob Mobley.
