Union Station’s divorce from Corinthian Hall presses on without firm answers

In 2003, then – Kansas City Councilwoman Teresa Loar got a complaint from a resident who was suspicious about how Union Station was spending tax money that was supposed to go toward the Kansas City Museum.

Loar asked Mark Funkhouser – then the city auditor – to examine whether Union Station, the contractual manager of the Kansas City Museum, was following state law and appropriately spending the mill levy dedicated to the museum.

Funkhouser’s audit uncovered no evidence of financial mismanagement by Union Station, which was spending what the mill levy raised back then: about $1 million a year.

Ten years later, concerns persist about Union Station’s intentions with the Kansas City Museum’s public keep.
As Union Station and the Kansas City Museum appear headed toward ending their merger agreement, supporters of the museum suspect that Union Station’s leadership doesn’t want to lose control of the mill levy, which today raises about $1.3 million annually.

Kansas City Councilman Scott Wagner, who has also served on the Kansas City Museum Advisory Board since its inception in 2004, says there has always been a fear among museum boosters that Union Station would
want to corral the mill-levy proceeds.

“If they [Union Station] believe themselves to be the keepers of the collection, both what they consider to be theirs as well as what would be considered the museum’s, I would probably say they would make the case that the mill levy was there to serve for the protection of the items and should continue to do so,” Wagner tells The Pitch. “I have not heard anything from them or seen a document otherwise that would suggest that they would want the full mill levy. If individuals are suggesting that it’s a total money grab, I would not go that far.”

George Guastello II, president and CEO of Union Station Kansas City Inc., says the mill levy isn’t solely for Corinthian Hall, which is owned by the city, but also for assets like the artifacts. He adds that the 2007 management agreement between Union Station and Kansas City, which he calls an “ironclad contract” is set to run for 13 more years. He doesn’t agree that the Kansas City Museum would necessarily “split” with Union Station, calling any prospective change to the management agreement “a modification” that Union Station would discuss with the Kansas City Manager’s Office.

“We would be open to evaluating that,” Guastello says.

The 2007 management agreement between Union Station and the Kansas City Museum suggests that Union Station owns most of the artifacts that came to the city’s collection after 1970. An inventory done in 2009 indicates that Union Station would own about 90 percent of the collection. And while a separation between Union Station and the Kansas City Museum may be in the offing, Union Station appears firm about its ownership stake in the artifact collection. That raises the question of what would go on in Corinthian Hall if such a separation materialized.

Sources tell The Pitch that Kansas City Councilman Jim Glover has suggested in meetings that Corinthian Hall could be turned into a meeting and events venue, coupled with a real-estate sales office for prospective property buyers in the Northeast.

Glover says that’s not quite what he has in mind, but he won’t be specific about his ideas for Corinthian Hall’s future.

“It’s my intent – and I’ve said this from the beginning – that Corinthian Hall is very important, and it needs to be opened and utilized in a way that benefits the neighborhoods and brings people into the historic neighborhoods of Kansas City,” Glover tells The Pitch.

City Hall has already spent $10 million renovating Corinthian Hall. At the City Council’s July 31 meeting, Councilwoman Jan Marcason estimated that finishing the renovation would cost $20 million-$25 million.

“That’s a lot of money,” Glover says. “Do you have it?”

Museum officials believe they can raise that sum, and they point out that they needn’t finish the job right away.

In a July 18 letter to Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Sly James, Martha Lally, chairwoman of the Kansas City Museum Advisory Board, outlines the steps for separating from Union Station. (The Pitch obtained the letter via a public-records request.) Lally writes that a Kansas City Museum Foundation has already been established and can act as the governing body of the museum. She adds that the museum could sustain itself with proceeds from the mill levy.

“Corinthian Hall renovation is under no deadline,” Lally’s letter reads. “It is false to drive public opinion to conclude the museum’s operations are in jeopardy.”

The Kansas City Museum Advisory Board’s historic-preservation subcommittee earned a $10,000 grant in July.

But the Kansas City Museum would likely do better as a fundraiser, grant gatherer and collection curator if it were separated from Union Station.

The Kansas City Museum lost its accreditation with the American Association of Museums after the merger with Union Station. City officials have acknowledged that reaccreditation is probably not possible as long as the museum’s relationship with Union Station continues.

“Donors want long-lasting assurances that their gifts are administered by a stable, accredited, unified governing and operating body,” Lally tells the mayor in her letter. “A unified nonprofit entity also is necessary for museum accreditation.”

According to minutes of the May 13 Kansas City Museum Advisory Board meeting, an unnamed donor gave a photo collection, depicting Kansas City in the early 1870s, to the Jackson County Historical Society instead of to the museum. The donor was concerned that the photos would then be owned by Union Station.

Lally’s letter also calls for the museum to rehire ousted director Christopher Leitch, who was fired in July without explanation by Union Station management.

Glover, Wagner and Marcason – members of the museum advisory board – have all said they don’t know why Leitch was fired.

“I still don’t know the particulars and, honestly, I don’t expect an explanation,” Wagner says. “At the end of the day, the manager [Union Station] … has made the decision. Knowing the work he’s done and having been part of the advisory board since he was hired, I’ve seen the whole body of work and certainly have found it satisfactory.”