The leadership of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is seeking to codify a new governance agreement with the City, months after details of a contentious relationship came to light.
It's unclear what the specific governance agreement will look like. However, it will likely be designed to reduce the input of Mayor Steven Reed, who MMFA leadership accused earlier this year of "exerting control" over museum operations against the will of the MMFA joint boards. The proposed agreement, sponsored by Councilman Andrew Szymanski, is first on the Montgomery City Council's new business agenda for its meeting on Tuesday night.
Two boards of trustees govern the MMFA: one is appointed by the city council, and the other is made up of those appointed and elected by the MMFA Association. Bill Ford, the president of the Board of Trustees, sits on both.
The issue was revealed after a series of controversial billboards bearing the MMFA name appeared in the city earlier this year.
On January 28, 1819 News reported that billboards with the "Make America Great Again" slogan had been spotted in the area. The slogan was over a famous picture of Alabama state troopers confronting civil rights marchers during the Selma to Montgomery march.
On January 29, 1819 News learned of a special called board meeting and attempted to attend but was denied entry due to the board allegedly discussing personnel matters. Later that day, the city's cultural affairs director Jennifer Dobbs announced that the billboard "was made without the approval of Museum leadership or the Joint Boards." Dobbs also announced that she had been selected as the museum's new interim director.
The next day, Friday, January 30, Reed released a statement, claiming he requested the billboards be removed after learning the MMFA had purchased them.
The joint boards responded with a lengthy statement, revealing ongoing tensions between the MMFA boards and the mayor's office for two years.
"Historically, the Museum has been under the administration of a joint board, comprised of the City Board, appointed by the Montgomery City Council, and the private MMFA Association Board," the statement read. "On February 4, the two boards met jointly and concluded that the time has come to acknowledge publicly a conflict between them and the Mayor's Office over the administration of the Museum that has existed for two years now. In February 2023, City officials placed the Director of the Museum on administrative leave, without consulting the boards. Since then, the Mayor's Office has effectively exerted control over the operation of the museum without meaningful board consultation."
"Both boards have expressed their opposition to the unilateral assumption of control by the Mayor's Office, but in an effort to achieve a harmonious resolution, they have refrained from publicly acknowledging this conflict while discussions have continued."
The City eventually responded to the boards' claims, which were filled with a litany of falsehoods and misrepresentations.
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