Sechelt council has unanimously voted to extend the district’s service agreement with Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives for five years.
The agreement sees the district providing a facility within the municipality for the Sechelt Community Archives (currently in a leased commercial unit in Trail Bay Centre) and the museum maintaining it.
At the district’s Aug 7 reglar meeting, Siobhan Smith, manager of Community Services, prefaced that this agreement has been in place for the last three years and is set to expire on Dec. 31.
District responsibilities in the service agreement include providing the website, phone, internet, and IT support for the archive, obtaining insurance coverage, providing staff liason to the museum and more, at its own expense.
The agreement also sets responsibilities for the museum, such as submitting annual operations reports, budget proposals and requests, providing adequate care for the collections and being responsible for the security of all data stored on-site.
The archive is a collection of primary source documents and materials dating back to the 1870s. The original collection, known as the Helen Dawe Collection, was donated to the District of Sechelt in 1996, stated the staff report.
Saying the agreement has worked well for both the museum and the municipality, Smith said the request was brought to council now because the museum needs to submit a budget request to the Sunshine Coast Regional District next month.
The only change in the agreement is extending it to a five-year term from its previous three-year term.
Noting that potentially moving the archives has been discussed in the past and that the topic has been close to him, Coun. Darren Inkster spoke in favour of renewing the agreement saying, “It’s good to see the archives stay in Sechelt.”
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
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