As part of a review of museum operations, Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyn Landry-Altmann is striving to ensure the Flour Mill Museum retains its slice of the pie, worth $500,000.
During Tuesday’s city council meeting, the city’s elected officials approved the continued suspension of museum services throughout 2022 to allow a review of museums to take place.
A one-time expense of $210,000 from reserves will go toward developing a Museums Revitalization Business Plan for consideration as part of 2023 budget deliberations.
A report by city executive director of Strategic Initiatives, Communications and Citizen Services Ian Wood also proposed that the construction of a planned storage and administration building at the Flour Mill Museum be suspended and that the expense go toward implementing whatever recommendations the plan outlines.
Landry-Altmann introduced a successful motion on Tuesday to ensure that these funds remain at the Flour Mill Museum site at O’Connor Park.
“It was presented to the community as a community hub shared facility to house staff as well as the community,” she said of the proposed building, adding that a lot of thought was given into the project alongside years of community consultation.
The building might also offer a workshop space that offers an attraction to the museum itself, she said, where volunteers can work to restore artifacts.
Certain promises were made when the museum was relocated from 245 Charles St. to its current home in O’Connor Park in 2019, she said, including a “like for like” pledge.
The move from Charles Street was necessary to make room for the construction of a sewage pumping station. The building currently proposed would replace an office and storage building that was deemed immovable so did not make it to O’Connor Park.
A Flour Mill Relocation Project Capital Account of $500,000 was created around the time of the move, which Landry-Altmann’s motion retains for use at O’Connor Park to be spent on localized recommendations that come out of the business plan, which will be presented to city council in September. Approximately $90,000 is expected to be spent on a fence that surrounds the museum site and the balance will go toward the new building. Whatever money is left over would go into reserves.
O’Connor Park is an ideal location for an investment into the community, she said, pointing to its splash pad and outdoor recreational facilities as already bringing people together, with enough land available to expand upon what’s already there to include something like a heritage village.
This is a big year for the Flour Mill community, Landry-Altmann said, with a celebration planned for this autumn that will include the installation of permanent lights at the neighbourhood’s historic silos, which are celebrating their 111th anniversary.
City council approved a $110,000 project to clean up the site in anticipation of the display, which will allow for various colours to be projected onto the silos depending on the season and holiday.
In conjunction with the celebration, for which Landry-Altmann said preparations are underway with the Flour Mill Community Action Network and Flour Mill Business Improvement Area, a request has been submitted for the Flour Mill Museum building to be designated as a property of cultural heritage value or interest under the Provincial Heritage Act.
The building was constructed in 1902 and was occupied by Francois Varieur, an employee of Evans Lumber. He built the house that's being considered for designation and lived in it with his family until 1910 when the Manitoba and Ontario Flour Mill Co. bought the house and land it was built on. The house was then used as a dwelling for the foreman of the Manitoba and Ontario Flour Mill Co..
“Its architectural ‘simplicity’ reflects the hard working class culture of the community and its occupants,” Flour Mill CAN chair Claude Charbonneau said in a letter to city council.
The Museums Revitalization Business Plan being drafted for 2023 budget consideration includes the Flour Mill Museum, Anderson Farm in Lively, Copper Cliff Museum and the Rayside-Balfour Museum in Azilda.
Overall attendance in 2018 was 23,711 people, including 20,524 people at Anderson Farm and the balance at other sites.
All four municipal sites were in place prior to amalgamation and are not the result of a specific co-ordinated strategy, according to a report by Ian Wood, who also noted that their associated municipal funding has remained unchanged since amalgamation.
Although the Northern Ontario Railway Museum and Historical Centre in Capreol receives municipal funding and leases part of its facilities from the city, it is operated by the not-for-profit organization and will not be included in the proposed overhaul.
By moving forward with the Museums Revitalization Business Plan on Tuesday, city council opted against the alternative, which would have been a winding down of museum operations.
