Laguna Trustees to Weigh Merger Delay

Threatened with legal action, the Laguna Art Museum’s board of trustees will discuss Tuesday whether to delay ratification of a decision to merge with the Newport Harbor Art Museum in Newport Beach.

Members of Save Laguna Art Museum (SLAM) and museum trustees agreed Thursday on preliminary plans to keep some museum presence in the city if the merger goes through.

But SLAM, an association of local artists and museum members, says it nevertheless will seek an injunction to postpone the ratification by 90 days. According to the current timetable, museum members have until March 30 to vote. SLAM says more time is needed to consider all the questions involved, and that a postponement would be a show of faith by trustees who quietly negotiated the merger for months before.

“We’re working together now” on the satellite plan, SLAM president G. Ray Kerciu said Friday, “but the injunction will have to go forward” if trustees won’t extend the voting period. “We really are concerned about saving this museum. That’s the big picture.”