Museums and Cultural Arts Commission Meeting - April 3, 2025
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Museums and Cultural Arts Commission Meeting - April 3, 2025
The Museums and Cultural Arts Commission of Monterey met on April 3, 2025, to discuss the restoration of Colton Hall, the revival of the concert series, and staff updates on various museum projects. The meeting included a presentation by Reggie Paulding on the deterioration of Colton Hall's exterior and proposed next steps.
Consent Calendar
- Unanimous approval of the minutes from the February 6, 2025 meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comment was received.
Discussion Items
- Colton Hall Restoration (Item 3): Brian and Reggie Paulding presented on the history and current condition of Colton Hall, highlighting damage from improper drainage, Portland cement mortar, and backsplash from adjacent hardscaping. The remaining NCIP funding of approximately $144,000 is available. A phased approach was discussed: prioritizing drainage improvements (estimated $200,000–$250,000) before repointing ($50,000–$75,000) and other repairs. Total project cost is estimated at $500,000–$750,000. Commissioner Bob Evans volunteered to represent the commission at the NCIP committee. The commission agreed to work with staff to develop a phased funding request.
- Concert Series at Colton Hall (Item 3 continued): Staff proposed resuming the concert series with 3–4 concerts in fall 2025, with an estimated budget of $500–$1,500 per concert. The last series in 2019 cost $4,395.50. Commissioners suggested afternoon Sunday concerts and community sponsorship. Staff will issue a call for musicians and bring proposals to the June 5, 2025 meeting.
- Staff Updates (Item 4): Brian reported on the Expanded Path of History (letters to property owners, website development), budget discussions to increase Colton Hall hours to seven days a week, the California Supreme Court oral arguments scheduled for October 2025 at Colton Hall, successful purchases from the Western Flyer auction (three documents: a statement of assets/liabilities, letters from Ed Jr., and a bound volume), and a new film permit fee schedule. Lower Presidio Historic Park planning involves an online survey and community charrettes. Pacific Biological Laboratories accessibility estimates range from $1.8 million to $2 million. Emile Norman panels have been installed at the Stanton Center. Collections management improvements include updating loan agreements and testing a new catalog system.
Key Outcomes
- Approval of the February minutes.
- Commissioner Evans designated as the commission liaison to the NCIP committee for Colton Hall.
- Staff directed to issue a call for musicians for the Colton Hall concert series, with proposals due at the June 5, 2025 meeting.
- Staff will continue developing a phased plan for Colton Hall restoration, beginning with drainage improvements using the remaining NCIP funds.
- Progress on the path of history, film permits, and collections management will continue, with updates at future meetings.
Meeting Transcript
Commissioner Evans. Yes, I am here. Commissioner Thomas. Here. Commissioner Watowski. Here. Vice Chair Kimsey. Chair Savo. Commissioners Champion and O'Neill are absent. You ready? We ready? We ready? We ready? We ready? But we said the general. Yeah, that's uh so the agenda is a little bit wrong, right, Brian. It says presentation. Yeah, I think there should be under the right. The minutes should be under consent. So we can have a motion on the consent agenda for the minutes of the February sixth meeting. We can move that there, but can we have a motion for the for the for the minutes? Yeah. I make a motion to approve the February sixth minutes. All in favor. I'm none. Any public comment in general. Anybody online? No. And it's information on participating in this meeting. And just because I think we got cut out on there, but in person, you can it there are no public commenters online. Thank you. That's the last meeting, right? This is this is a follow-up to that from the last meeting. It's similar to all right. Yeah, so I will just give we have I'll just go briefly over this and then hand it over to Reggie Paulding. But for anybody just to repeat, because this is in the agenda again, that you know, Council Resolution 19-166 appropriated 158,000 through the NCIP neighborhood community improvement program uh for restoration on Colton Hall for repointing for the work done in 1973 when they took off the plaster and added the Portland cement on the side and there are Ferris nails inside there as well. So there's damage coming in from rain, um, improper drainage on the building as well. So when we have wet seasons, that damages that stone, that Carmel stone, which is a very soft stone that we have on there. So there's a number of studies that have been done on the facility. Um, from what I've read before, also, there was an originally like a coating that was done. They're not sure exactly what 1973, they added something out there when they took off the plastered coat on the stone. That is basically worn off. Um but architectural resources group um as part of the as part of that NCIP funding did a project in 2023, um, reconfirming some of the needs on there in terms of specific areas, highest areas of damage, um, replacing the Portland cement with a natural hydraulic lime mortar, which is an NHL mortar, and also looking at the backsplash and different areas where the you have the concrete running straight up to the stone, and when it rains, it can uh pool up or backsplash on there and damage that stone further. So part of that is that I will mention on here um last year I was unsuccessful in getting a grant from National Park Service, which is actually National Park Service and IMLS Institute of Museum and Library Services, which the president has cut all funding and all grants to IMLS as well right now. Um, those projects for Save America's treasures, we are not sure if those are gonna come back again, but those are typically one-to-one matching funds, and we knew that we had we needed more funding to complete that project. And so part of my hope at that point was to add ask the federal government for matching funds to restore on Colton Hall. But as I mentioned, those federal grants have all been canceled. We're not sure if the that program is going to continue this kind of um this coming year. So, and we're not sure where that's a large ask for this this coming year. So the funds are incomplete in terms of what's needed for the building at this time, and so I'm recommending that the original NCIP submission, which was done by prior chair uh Kimber Peak, and Kimber has uh resigned from the museum commission.
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