Agenda - 05-18-2010 - 8a - Laserfiche WebLink

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12 needed to house a Heritage Center. While a bit smaller, the Graham building would probably work, at least for five or so years. The building would have to be used as is, as the walls are load bearing and cannot be reconfigured. The Purchasing Building is approximately 6000 square feet, more than 6 times larger than the Graham Building and basically too much space for astand-alone Center. There has been some discussion that the Orange County Historical Museum has no more room and needs to expand. it was discussed that the Museum might use this opportunity to share space with the Heritage Center and even oversee it. I met with several Executive Board members of the Museum to discuss if this is something in which they are interested. While they are interested in the possibility, it is my understanding they do not like the Purchasing Building as it has issues with flooding in approximately 1/3 of its total square footage. This is undesirable for an archives or museum. Furthermore, the building is very narrow, and would need total reconfiguration of spaces inside, to accommodate the two programs. As the museum has a current square footage of 4,500 square feet, not 2,000 square feet as originally thought, there would be no point in relocating to this building. Renovation figures would be excessive between correcting the water problem and redoing the interior space. The Museum has stated it does not have the funding for such a project. Board members of the Historical Foundation of Hillsborough and Orange County which operates the Orange County Historical Museum did express interest in the possibility of overseeing the Heritage Center and operating it if it were in the Graham Building. This was viewed as being an "annex' to the museum. However, the Museum is not in a position to purchase or rent the facility if the rent is at a fair market value. The Museum views this building as an opportunity to remove its archives to a different location, creating a small bit of space in their current facility. would enable the group to bring together the documents of Orange County and house them in one place. However, it does not provide long-term solution to expanded space for the Museum. Equipment, Staff and Budget: My third task was to determine what the costs of a Heritage Center might be. Based on the needs, I figured a budget for astand-alone operation of approximately 1000 square feet. To house the various collections would require approximately 90 linear feet of shelving and numerous file cabinets and map cases. 1 have put together estimates that allow for growth of the collection over time. As the library's resources would remain at the library, all equipment would need to be purchased. It could be that some agencies would give their file cabinets with the collections, but some have indicated that they would retain their files and give the Heritage Center copies. I developed estimates to fund the operation in its entirety purchasing all new equipment. I also projected annual operational costs. However, at this time, with the possible involvement of the Orange County Historical Museum and discussion of several different buildings, those figures are better left out of the report. To include figures that could possibly be interpreted as "the true cosy' of the project would ultimately be confusing and possibly detrimental as plans move