BY JENN SAMSEL
Special to the Monitor
On Monday, June 23, the Keystone Heights City Council continued discussions with a consultant who sought to bring a museum formally based in Jacksonville to the Lake Region.
However, by the end of the meeting, Dr. Rhonda Heiser announced that her board was backing out of the proposed deal.
The council first discussed Hiser’s proposal during a June 9 session.
Heiser, a grant writer and consultant, proposed that the city host the Museum of Southern History. Heiser curated the Duval County museum and gained notoriety by discovering the flag that draped Abraham Lincoln’s coffin within the museum’s collections. The museum auctioned the artifact for half a million dollars, and Heiser said she planned to use some of those proceeds to fund the museum in Keystone Heights.
However, council members voted to table the matter until August or September.
During the June 23 meeting, Council Member Dan Lewandowski made his enthusiastic support for the project clear, offering a detailed layout of the facility.
Other council members also expressed support for the museum. However, a disagreement about the location of the facility remained a sticking point, with Heiser favoring a site around Sunrise Park and Mayor Nina Rodenroth arguing for a downtown location.
Timing was also a point of contention, with museum officials advocating for fast-track approval from city officials and council members favoring a conservative approach.
Heiser also expressed her displeasure at the city’s insistence on conducting a background check on her, noting that she is not a city employee.
Some council members expressed caution over the legal status of the museum, and the structure of leases or contracts city officials would be required to sign.
City Attorney Rich Komando tried to allay those concerns.
Council Member Ryan Knight proposed giving the city manager and attorney the authority to continue negotiations with Heiser.
“I think that the most painless option, if there is one tonight from the council, is just to— if the city manager believes that there is a path forward, and the city attorney— to work out some kind of generic lease arrangement possibly down the road to be decided on if you want to continue that,” he said.
Heiser announced during the council meeting that her board voted via telephone to cease discussions with the city.
Council members also learned that Heritage Commission Chair, Christine Arnold, who had advocated for the museum during the June 9 meeting, had resigned.
Council members expressed regret over Arnold’s decision and said they hoped to persuade her to reconsider. Rodenroth proposed appointing the former chair as the city’s official historian.
