Fort Smith's Marshals Museum may receive covid aid for opening

FORT SMITH -- The U.S. Marshals Museum will have a way of getting the money it needs to open to the public after years of fundraising, if a Sebastian County official's proposal goes through.

During an Oct. 19 review of the proposed 2022 county budget, County Judge David Hudson recommended that the Quorum Court allocate $7.5 million in American Rescue Plan money for the museum.

Hudson said the money, if approved, would be paired with a $5 million matching donation that the museum announced it had received in July. The combined $12.5 million would allow the museum to finish its capital campaign, and pay for the exhibits and educational programming it needs to be able to open.

Patrick Weeks, president and chief executive officer of the museum, said Thursday that he and Hudson discussed the possibility of the federal money being used for the museum a few weeks ago.

Weeks told Hudson in an Oct. 21 letter that the museum received a $500,000 donation toward the matching gift earlier that week. It received a $3 million pledge as well that was not applied to the match at the request of the donor, who wanted to inspire more people to contribute. The museum needs about $4.5 million to get the matching money and complete the campaign.

"Basically everything that we need to do to have this museum open and operating is a part of that remaining $4.5 million," Weeks said.

Hudson said the Quorum Court will review the proposed 2022 budget again at its meeting Nov. 16. His recommendation will be amended based on what Weeks wrote in his Oct. 21 letter.

The covid-19 pandemic hurt the nonprofit museum financially, he said. Sebastian County is allowed to spend American Rescue Plan funds to respond to the pandemic or its negative economic impacts. That includes helping nonprofit groups or affected industries such as tourism, travel and hospitality.

Hudson cited a feasibility study that Leisure Development Partners, a consulting practice headquartered in London, did in the fall of 2018 projecting that the museum would have 125,576 people attending annually during a typical year.

He also said the Arkansas Economic Development Institute determined that the museum and related tourist expenditures would have an impact of $13 million to $22 million in Sebastian County.

The Marshals Museum's overall capital campaign goal is about $50 million, according to Weeks. The amount raised so far includes cash, pledges and an in-kind land donation.

Weeks said about $8.5 million will be spent to create exhibits for the museum. Those will be produced by Thinkwell, a company in Los Angeles. Work on the exhibits is in the early phases.

"We're having conversations at this point in time," Weeks said.

Weeks said money from the campaign will also be spent on furnishings, equipment, cash reserves and startup costs. The museum will know more about when it will open to the public next spring.

"There's a lot of moving parts in the United States right now with getting goods from Point A to Point B," he said. "Until we get to spring, we will not know if there's any holdups associated with just flat-out materials getting to where they need to be or electronic parts getting to where they need to be to get things actually, physically built. But in the meantime, we'll be working on production designs and script writing and all sorts of things like that."

The museum is at 789 Riverfront Drive on the Arkansas River. Construction on the main museum building, consisting of about 53,000 square feet, was completed in January 2020.

Weeks said the museum is home to a Hall of Honor exhibit dedicated to U.S. Marshals Service members who died in the line of duty and the museum's offices.

"We've done a number of facility rentals for weddings and receptions and corporate functions and nonprofit galas and all sorts of stuff over the course of the last year," he said.

Releasing American Rescue Plan money to help the Marshals Museum will depend on the U.S. Department of the Treasury reporting final regulations on how the money can be spent, Hudson said. The county would have to enter into a contract with the museum.

Fort Smith voters in March 2019 rejected a proposal to levy a nine-month, 1% sales tax to fund the museum's completion.

Lorrie Runion, justice of the peace for District 13, reminded the group Oct. 19 of that vote, adding that the Quorum Court needs to be mindful of "the will of the people."