State Senator Gail Griffin amended her bill, SB1200, that transfers the former Mining & Mineral Museum to AZGS to reopen it as a Mining, Mineral, & Natural Resources Education Museum. [Right, artists vision of the original plans for the Centennial Museum]The Senate engrossed version would change the membership of the Advisory Council to add one member from the gem community, one from timber interests, a State Senator and a State Representative. The number of members from agriculture and livestock interests would be reduced correspondingly.
The amended version also would waive rent on the building for the first year, allowing the $428,300 that would be transferred from the Historical Society, to be used for operations or for maintenance and repairs, according to different sections of the bill. The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
The Arizona Dept. of Administration reported last December that $2.1 million in building upgrades are required to re-open the building.
Some interpreted the discussion at the Senate hearing to indicate that $2.1 million was the proposed cost to convert the building into a modern AHS history museum, and not the cost for simply reopening the mineral museum. None of the four AHS proposals was for simply reopening the mineral museum. The four proposal were conversion into modern AHS museum, conversion into office space, sale of the building, and status quo (leave empty).
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