Merger Concerns Aired by Museums’ Trustees

Trustees and supporters of the Laguna and Newport Harbor art museums met for more than two hours Thursday to try to resolve concerns over a proposal to keep the Laguna museum open as a satellite if the two institutions ever merge.

Although no resolution was reached, participants said that the discussion was amicable and that negotiations will continue.

A sticking point in the proposed museum merger is an agreement between Laguna Art Museum trustees and supporters to keep their institution open and operating for 80 years.

James V. Selna, president of the Newport museum trustees, said his board considers the term of the agreement to be too long.

But a faction of Laguna museum members has said that unless the agreement stands, it will not support the merger. Under the museum’s bylaws, the merger cannot take place without the membership’s support.

Under the agreement, the new, combined Orange County Museum of Art would own the Laguna museum building but could not sell it or any parts of the Laguna collection without approval from a Laguna Heritage Corp., to be made up largely of members of SLAM, an association of members, artists and locals fighting to keep the building open.

Newport trustees are concerned that the agreement provides no suitable “exit clause” for either OCMA or the Heritage Corp. if they disagree over such matters as financing or the satellite’s mission.

“There is no provision for revisiting whether the agreement is meeting the needs of all parties,” Selna said.

According to Laguna trustee David Emmes II, Newport trustees have said they are worried that disagreements could “be messy, involving potential lawsuits.”

Meanwhile, a Newport museum insider said Newport trustees further are concerned that funding a Laguna satellite would be too expensive (under the agreement, OCMA would have to pay about $130,000 a year) and that under the proposed OCMA bylaws--patterned after the current Laguna bylaws--members would have the power to recall trustees. Selna would neither confirm nor deny either assertion.

In related news, Newport Harbor announced that its assistant director for finance and administration, Jane Piasecki, is resigning. No reason was given and no departure date was announced. Piasecki took the job in January, returning to a post she had held for nine years until 1993.