HOWELL – Municipal officials have offered to meet with representatives of two groups in an attempt to move forward with the reopening of the MacKenzie Museum.
At the Sept. 19 meeting of the Township Council, representatives of the Howell Historical Society and Howell Heritage Group spoke about their concerns regarding the MacKenzie house.
The MacKenzie Museum and Library, 427 Lakewood-Farmingdale Road (Route 547), was once home to the Howell Historical Society and the colonial house still holds historic artifacts. However, the museum has been closed for years because the structure requires more than $150,000 in renovations.
Cathy McKee said she noticed the chimney appeared to be crumbling and said it looked “concerning.”
Several months ago, Acting Township Manager Jim Herrman met with an historic architect and a structural engineer to inspect the structure.
McKee asked Herrman about the structural concerns in the house.
“There are various issues a building of that age has and we need to discuss moving forward about what do to with it. (We need to discuss) whether we are going to have a long-term plan, whether we are going to leave it with the Howell Historical Society or bring it to a different group, (or) if the council is going to spend taxpayer dollars on repairing it or if there is the potential for volunteer opportunities (or if) private fundraising (could be) used to do some of the major structural repairs to save taxpayer dollars,” Herrman said.
Virginia Woolley said she is disappointed the building no longer has tax exempt status. She said individuals may not want to make donations toward renovations without having the benefit of a tax break.
“The building is not going to stand without some kind of work done on it,” Woolley said.
Councilwoman Evelyn O’Donnell said something has to be done and she went on to explain that “the tax number was revoked because the historical society (or) whatever is left of it has not kept up with it, so in fact I am not sure anything could be donated because they do not have a tax identification number.”
“The new group would like to do the tax ID number and be in a position to go in and start doing things, but they would need permission to become the group” that runs the museum.
“I am hoping the council understands we must do something to facilitate repairs on the building or we are going to lose it,” O’Donnell said. “This house was given to the township by the MacKenzie family with the idea that it would be an open museum and that it would be a resource where people could go and conduct research.
“The fact that this does not occur (means) the family could come and ask for the house back because in essence, we have not kept our end of the bargain.”
O’Donnell said some of the original members of the Howell Historical Society now make up the Howell Heritage Group.
“This is so disjointed,” she said. “My point is that we have people who want to volunteer their time and … fulfill the MacKenzies’ wishes and somehow this is not able to happen because the original historical group is having issues with these people coming back.
“This is nonsensical, it is ridiculous, and I am hoping the council can come to an agreement that we can invite the groups together to become the Howell Historical Society again and to function with the intent that it was put together. We need to put this building back together, we need to do the right thing for the MacKenzie building so we can keep it,” O’Donnell said.
Deputy Mayor Robert Nicastro said there are two issues: who will repair the home and who will operate it. He said the council members make decisions based on numbers and priorities.
“There were some priorities this governing body made (and) unfortunately, funding was not available for the MacKenzie house, however, we did take the necessary steps to identify what the issues are,” he said.
“This is not complicated; the Hatfield and McCoy issues, I am done with it. I think we are all done with it, so you are on the right step, we know what we have to do. It is very important to us. We said we would commit to getting this building within our priorities if we can. It is all about dollars and cents,” Nicastro said.
Mayor Theresa Berger said the best thing to do would be to have a conversation with representatives of the two historic groups, to form a board of directors, establish a bank account and complete any necessary paperwork.
Berger said she is willing to sit down with O’Donnell and with representatives of the two organizations.
“In order to raise the funds, the 501(c)(3) must be in place, otherwise we cannot get people to donate … so that is another obstacle, but I think we could probably get through this if everybody can come to a meeting of the minds and get on the same page and please let the past be the past,” O’Donnell said.