Museum Merger Approval Was Close

The Laguna Art Museum members’ vote to approve a merger with the Newport Harbor Art Museum passed by a narrow margin--about 100 votes of about 1,000 cast, Laguna museum president Gilbert LeVasseur has revealed.

Of the 1,383 members eligible to vote, LeVasseur said, about 555 supported the merger. A merger proponent declared victory two days before the membership vote deadline last week, but the totals were not made public.

The merger was approved by trustees of both museums in February. News of that decision had stirred protest among museum members, local artists and Laguna Beach residents, but many seemed mollified by trustees’ subsequent steps to keep the Laguna museum’s historic building open as a satellite to the merged institution.

The Laguna museum members now must approve some charter and bylaw changes necessary to keep the building open. Ballots are due in about three weeks, museum officials said. James V. Selna, the Newport Harbor board president, has said he expects full approval of the merger by May 31.

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According to museum officials, the pending amendments involve management issues and would allow proxy voting. Motivated Museum Members, a group newly formed in opposition to the merger, feels proxy voting would give trustees “carte blanche” to vote their own interests, according to MMM attorney Belinda Blacketer. But Selna, a lawyer, said, “We have no contemplation of a proxy that would simply grant the board discretion to go any way it wants to.”

MMM--which holds its next meeting Friday at 7 p.m. at the Laguna Beach City Council chambers, 505 Forest Ave.--also is alleging irregularities in the membership vote. The group has announced plans to stop the merger either by suing or by getting the attorney general to block it.