A year after David Taylor told the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission that the Lakeland Art Association wanted the old city hall for a county museum, Melodie Koher brought the idea back up Monday night to the City Council.

She presented the association’s business plan for the Lakeland Fine Art Museum to be at the old city hall, 302 E.?Market St., starting by mentioning that the association has been in existence for 60 years and has operated a fine arts gallery for the last 24.

“The problem that we see within Warsaw and Kosciusko County is that there is no fine arts museum and research studies show that there is a need here and the community would be able to support a fine arts museum. So that would also increase the cultural draw to Warsaw,” Koher said.

Because there is no fine art museum in Warsaw to draw people in, it does lose some tourism revenue, she said.



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“We do have art collectors who have approached Lakeland Art Association, saying that they would like to exhibit their collections if we had a museum facility. Those collections are quite extensive. They were right here within Kosciusko County with some major works of art, including a Picasso. So it’s not anything to sneeze at. It’s quality museum artwork,” she said.

Kosciusko County residents have to travel a minium of 35 miles to the nearest fine arts museum in Elkhart, or 50 miles to South Bend or 49 to Fort Wayne, Koher estimated.

Turning the old city hall into a fine arts museum would provide culture, enhance the community and draw more businesses and residents to Warsaw, she said. “Economic impact, of course, would be increased.”

Koher said the key partners that the association would partner with would include the city, other art museums, artists, art collectors and the Kosciusko County Convention and Recreation Visitors Center.

Revenue streams would come from admission fees, leasing some museum space to other organizations, a gift shop, fundraisers, membership dues, grants, art workshops and private and corporation donations.

As for a timeline, Koher said phase I in the first year would include acquisition of the building, beginning the capital campaign, renovating the main exhibit areas, opening up the first exhibits and beginning art programs with classes.

Phase II would continue the fundraising to renovate the second half of the building, open the smaller gallery areas and continue programs and services.

In years three and four, programs and services would continue to be added. Then in the fifth year, she said, “We would like to have first rights to purchase the building because right now the cost estimates to do this for the first five years is about $225,000. So we feel that if Lakeland puts that amount of money into that building, and the city allows us to do that, then we feel like we should have first rights to obtain that building.”

Koher said Lakeland does have a licensed contractor and an interior designer who are willing to work with it on the building. The interior designer would work with them pro bono, while the contractor will donate their time if the association pays for the materials. Within its own organization, members are capable of doing the clean-up and painting of the building.

“We would ask, because the roof has a significant leak, that the city be responsible  for repairing that because that leak has been there for several years. But Lakeland would be responsible for everything else,” Koher said.

Councilwoman Cindy Dobbins asked how long would it take for the association to be up and running with the first exhibits. Koher said if it does a contemporary exhibit, probably within the first year.

Ron Shoemaker, councilman, asked what the cost of fixing the roof was. While Koher didn’t know, she said the cost of just repairing that area with the leak was between $2,500 to $3,000.

Asked by Shoemaker if the city could give a right of first refusal for a property, city attorney Mike Valentine said he’s been thinking about that but wasn’t sure off hand.

Mayor Joe Thallemer said, “The city, as far as disposition of the property, the council makes the final disposition. However, it’s not a sale. It’s basically put up for an auction and there are appraisals done, and if they don’t fall within a range of those appraisals, then statutorily it can’t be sold unless the council makes a decision itself. There are other possibilities.”

He said he’s talked to Koher about the property, and while the final decision rests with the council, “My thought is that we certainly need to make that building available to the general public for sale before we make any kind of decision of what to do. And depending on what type of interest is shown in the building, certainly it would make the most sense to our taxpayers to get that building back on the tax rolls. That, to me, would be my first goal, to try to expose that building to someone to redevelop it and put it back on the tax rolls.”

Shoemaker agreed that getting it back on the tax rolls would be a benefit to Warsaw, but so would the fine arts museum.

Councilwoman Diane Quance asked Koher if they looked at the black mold problem at the old city hall as that would be a significant cost. Koher said they had not but did not see any of that when they walked through the building. Thallemer said he didn’t know if there was a problem. He said Lakeland’s request will be thoroughly reviewed.

Asked by Council President Mike Klondaris if the association has done any fundraising, Koher said the KCCRVC has pledged $25,000 a year for the first five years for operating funds; approached other private donors who have pledged money; and have a $10,000 gift from a private investor.

Councilman Jerry Frush said a fine arts museum would be a great addition to the city. Dobbins said she’d like the city to explore the possibility of fixing the old city hall’s roof to prevent further damage.