26 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY june 29-july 5, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com cards that he would use to record his finds. Leininger produces another box. “In here—you may have heard of some guy named John Steinbeck—we have his checkbook from 1944,” Leininger says. There’s a notation for $8.95 to New York Telephone, and another notation of “baby clothes, $32.00.” The checkbook—found inside the safe at Doc Ricketts’ lab—was alongside other documents of Steinbeck’s, like the insurance form he filled out before going overseas as a war correspondent. In the best-case scenario, more and more of the city’s collections would be digitized and uploaded to the internet for all to see, says Edwards. In addition, original documents, like those currently on display in Colton Hall, could be better protected in the vault, digitized and accessible online, and brought out occasionally for public viewing. Edwards also imagines a scenario where other museums and businesses could display items on loan. At the end of the vault visit, Leininger is the last one to file outside of the heavy door. He closes it and spins the handle, locking it shut. When the members of the Museums and Cultural Arts Commission met on May 4 in Monterey’s council chambers, they were unhappy about the city’s proposed 2023-2024 budget. Edwards reported that he requested a 30-hour, part-time cultural arts position that would focus on creating events at Colton Hall as was done pre-pandemic. That position would join the 30-hour, part-time artifacts specialist role held by Leininger and an existing 25-percent administrative assistant. Edwards’ request was denied by the city manager’s office. Edwards suggested an alternative: a part-time, seasonal cultural arts position of 1,000 hours a year, or approximately 20 hours a week. That was also denied. There was a possibility of using money from the Museum Trust Fund, but commissioners were adamant the city use the general fund for staffing, saving the trust fund for other expenses. “We have three museums that are very important to the history of Monterey, to the locals and to the tourists,” a frustrated Commissioner Bill Wojtkowski said. “You have to provide sufficient staffing for them. If not, close the museums, maybe sell them. That would help the city’s revenue problems.” He wanted the commission to appeal directly to the City Council, requesting everything be paid for out of the general fund, which is the discretionary portion of the budget. A month later, on June 6, the Monterey City Council approved a $98 million budget for the fiscal year 202324, which begins July 1. The total for museum services was $271,329. That includes $25,000 a year for a part-time seasonal employee to open up Colton Hall extra days during the summer and for classroom visits. Before the vote for the new budget, Mayor Tyller Williamson listed off items that didn’t get much attention in this year’s budget but still need to be addressed, including Monterey’s museums. “There’s so much history in Monterey that we’re just leaving to the side, it feels a little bit more like an afterthought,” Williamson said. “There’s a whole layer that I feel like is deficient in regards to making sure we’re creating the full experience for visitors to want to come back and explore more. So it’s important we figure that piece out.” With limited city funds, it may take a different approach to pay for what’s needed for the museums, including repairs, renovations and programs, Edwards says. “The thing that I see right off the bat is that we need some kind of nonprofit or some kind of group that’s going to help support running these operations long term,” he says. Per city code, Colton Hall is free to the public. Meanwhile, the Presidio of Monterey Museum is in a building leased from the U.S. Army with free admissions, and the Lab tours are free as well. There’s no revenue to be made from admissions, Edwards says. He imagines something like a “Friends of Colton Hall,” group, created by citizens and formalized with a memorandum of understanding with the city. Thomas, of the Museums and Cultural Arts Commission, agrees a separate foundation is a good idea. “It’s a lot of work finding those people who want to donate to the foundation, but I think it’s a step in the right direction because you can’t always rely on the city,” he says. The city is currently in talks with the Community Foundation for Monterey County about creating what’s known as an agency stewardship fund specifically to support Colton Hall, says Monterey Assistant City Manager Nat Rojanasathira. It would allow people and organizations to make tax-deductible donations, which the city could then draw upon for museum operations, programs and projects. “We believe there is community support to help maintain and preserve and increase access to Colton Hall for the community and visitors alike,” he says. Rojanasathira points to Pacific Grove, which turned operations of the P.G. Museum of Natural History over to a nonprofit as an example where a city museum is relying mostly on community donations to operate. In another recent case, the city received a grant from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation toward updating the city’s Path of History, an audio walking tour, to be more inclusive of the Indigenous population and underrepresented groups throughout the city’s history. Beyond current needs of the museums, Museums and Cultural Arts Commission chair Evans believes there is more to do to modernize the museums and leverage what’s known as heritage tourism, for people who travel specifically to experience places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the past and present. More funds are needed for making the Lab ADA-compliant and recreating Ricketts’ laboratory, he says. The museums need their own website. “And then in all three museums, we need new technology to make the museums more interactive, not only for kids but for adults as well,” Evans says. An avid museum visitor wherever he travels on vacations who takes note of new technologies and how people interact with them, he imagines a person-sized tablet where visitors would stand face-to-face with people of the past. Imagine, he says, talking to Ed Ricketts or John Steinbeck. It is possible, but it takes money. “We keep bumping up against this thing called the dollar sign,” Evans says. Colton had the power in those early days to cobble together enough resources from the “gamblers, convicts and tipplers” to construct his hall. For today’s leaders, it’s not that easy to raise a tax here and issue a fine there. It likely will take a community effort in partnership with government, committed to Colton’s singular purpose. Above: The top floor of the Pacific Biological Laboratory became the gathering place for a men’s club after Ricketts’ death in 1948. It was there the idea of the Monterey Jazz Festival was born. “There are multiple stories to be told here,” Brian Edwards says. Below: Jordan Leininger holds a limited-edition copy of John Steinbeck’s novel In Dubious Battle, signed by the author.
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