Belleville Area Museum still closed to public

As the new year unfolds, residents of the tri-community are questioning if their museum will reopen for use by students and the public any time soon.
It was closed in March 2020 when COVID-19 arrived and then reopened briefly on Sept. 7, 2021, with a Van Buren Township news release announcing the opening and all the scheduled activities. It closed again suddenly two days later and has been closed ever since.
Van Buren Township Supervisor Kevin McNamara invited the public to speak about the Belleville Area Museum during the board’s Oct. 19 zoom meeting. That’s the last time the museum was publicly discussed by the township board.
At that meeting he said the museum budget was on the agenda for the public budget hearing that night and so it was appropriate for the public to speak on the museum.
Diane Wilson, who retired as director of the Belleville Area Museum in June 2011 after 15 years of service, said she has not heard the township’s plans for the museum yet.
“Right now we don’t know the direction we will take,” Supervisor McNamara replied. He said he wants a townhall meeting and they won’t decide anything without public input. He said it’s closed because they will be having construction.
“When will the hearing be held?” Wilson asked and McNamara said it would be the end of the year, or January. He said there is a huge turnover of key employee positions.
Trustee Reggie Miller asked if it would be an agenda item where the public could speak and McNamara said it would be an open house where the township would show the public ideas and hear comments.
He said the comments would be taken to the board and then the board would present it to the public.
Clerk Leon Wright said the people can tell them what they would like to see.
McNamara said he has talked to the City of Belleville and Township of Sumpter and Sumpter pledged additional support.
“I don’t see it going away,” he said.
Wilson asked why it isn’t open and McNamara said there was no attendance, no programming.
Wilson said she thought the museum was closed because of COVID and that’s why attendance was down. She asked about the status of Museum Director Katy Dallos and McNamara said she currently is laid off. [Later, Dallos reported on social media that she had been terminated.] “If this historical building is lost to the community, it would be a huge loss,” Wilson said. “And, not to be used is an abomination.”
McNamara said the township is putting $200,000 into the museum and they wouldn’t be doing that if they weren’t going to do something with it.
“I don’t see why it has to be closed,” she said. “The director had all kinds of activities planned” and she named off all the events that had been listed when it was reopened on Sept. 7 after being closed a year before it was abruptly closed again.
“It shouldn’t be placed on her for lack of admission,” Wilson said.
“We have to have a vision,” McNamara said and Wilson said that was a good idea, but why has it been closed?
“We’ve got to have some hours it’s open and we can’t get this,” McNamara said.
“People have to know when they can come,” said Trustee Sherry Frazier.
“The board isn’t letting that museum go away,” McNamara said.
“That museum is very precious to the community,” Wilson said.
“It’s still a budget item,” Clerk Wright said. “We want to decide what direction to go. We’re putting a lot of money into it and we wouldn’t be wasting – putting money into it — if it wasn’t going to continue.”
“I wish you the best of luck with your efforts,” Wilson concluded.
Claudia Roullier of Belleville also spoke on the subject via zoom.
“I used to work at the museum as a volunteer,” she said, noting the director got a $25,000 grant to connect the museum to the former fire hall behind it. She said the township is kicking in another $150,000.
McNamara said they just extended the grant and they have ordered the windows and steel. He said it is going to be fun to watch it progress.
“I hope you realize what value we have in the museum and in our director,” Roullier concluded.
In the 2022 budget, Van Buren Township had a $50,000 salary allocation for museum director, plus $22,654 in fringes. The museum budget is $107,499. The City of Belleville and Sumpter Township have contributed $10,000 a year for the tri-community museum which is located in the former Van Buren Township Hall located on township property in downtown Belleville.
In 1875, after 40 years of conducting Van Buren Township businesses in private homes, stores, and rented quarters, the voters of the township decided to erect a one-story, brick building as a town hall. They appropriated $1,500 for the project.
After work had started the Belleville Grange #331 asked permission to add a second story to the building to provide a meeting place for their activities. The voters approved this measure as well and the grange donated all the materials.
In 1905, the Village of Belleville incorporated into a city and the township hall no longer was in the township. It served as a municipal facility until 1959 when new offices were built on Tyler Road within the township boundaries.
Since then, the Greek Revival building has served many uses and became the Belleville Area Museum in 1996. Still owned by Van Buren Township, the 146-year-old former Township Hall is on the State of Michigan Registry of Historic Sites.
Van Buren Township has yet to announce the date of a public meeting to discuss the future of the museum.