Home Editorial Local News Failing roof threatening Osoyoos Museum archives
Failing roof threatening
Osoyoos Museum archives
Some display items and paper archives are at risk as the Osoyoos Museum's roof continues to fail.
A delayed move to a new Main Street location is now looming large for the Osoyoos & District Museum and Archives.
The museum's current Gyro Park home has always proven to be a bit drafty, but now the building's roof is beginning to fail.
"We've had leaks for about 10 years in the Quonset area," said manager Kara Burton. "It's beyond repair; nobody will even go near it.
"That's one of the reasons why the museum is looking for a new home."
But it's a problem away from the Quonset that is causing the most recent grief.
"This new leaking is in the other end of the building, upstairs where we have our storage area, our office space and then downstairs into the display area," Ms. Burton explained.
"We do tend to keep a lot more of the archives, a lot more of the paper items and that type of thing, in this part of the building."
The problem is substantial enough that Town of Osoyoos CAO Barry Romanko shared it with Osoyoos Council Monday morning.
"(Public Works) were there on Friday trying to fix a roof they feel is unfix-able," he told Council.
He suggested a rescue of sorts was in order — a relocation of "office and archival functions" to another building in the community.
The ensuing brainstorming involved commandeering leftover space in the Destination Osoyoos building — the front end of the facility will be occupied by Desert Sun Counselling and Resource Centre — the Cactus Centre and even the old firehall.
"Alternatively, we have to take a look at what is a fix and where do we get the money to fix that."
"It's a big task," said Ms. Burton of such a move. "We are moving — that's not till 2020 — and we've been preparing for that move already for years, packing boxes and updating our database and making sure we know what everything is. It's quite a monumental task."
"Of course, that puts another wrench in things because we have to manage two different locations or be able to be on the move a little more frequently," she added. We haven't figured out exactly what's needed."
The museum was scheduled to be in its new home on Main Street — in a building currently leased to Osoyoos Home Building Centre — in 2016.
"We should have been out of here a year ago," Ms. Burton noted.
Town staff will be working with the museum society to explore options. In the meantime, it's business as usual for the museum.
"We're still open — Tuesdays to Fridays right now from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Osoyoos & District Museum
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