CLAREMORE - The governor's recent recommendation to merge five state agencies into the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department has a pair of Claremore museums concerned.
In Gov. Mary Fallin's State of the State speech earlier this month, she recommended consolidating the Oklahoma Arts Council, J.M. Davis Memorial Commission, Oklahoma Historical Society, Will Rogers Memorial Commission and Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission into the Tourism Department.
Fallin projected a 15 percent cost savings from the move.
The J.M. Davis and Will Rogers commissions oversee facilities in Claremore: the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum and Will Rogers Memorial Museum, which also has a venue (Rogers' Birthplace Ranch) in Oologah.
"I don't know exactly the details of what they have in mind, where we would be budgetarily," said Steve Gragert, director of the Will Rogers museum. "I'm concerned also about who would we be directly reporting to. Would it be our commission or would it be another body altogether?
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"And how exactly would there be savings? We're not certain about that. I just don't see where we could realize those kind of savings."
Wayne McCombs is executive director of the J.M. Davis Arms and Historical Museum, which is home to more than 13,000 firearms and a vast collection of items such as beer steins, swords and knives.
"Saving government money is terrific and right," McCombs said. "But maybe there was a staff member who saw this and possibly didn't do some checking on why we're set up the way we are."
Gragert said other consolidation efforts, such as moving the Will Rogers and J.M. Davis museums under the Oklahoma Historical Society umbrella, have been proposed before.
"That, as far as mission is concerned, certainly is more appropriate than merging us with OTRD," Gragert said. "Not that we're not a tourist attraction.
"We do bring people here from all over the world. But our primary focus is on cultural understanding and education."
Six full-time staffers work at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum, which is one more than when the museum opened in 1938, Gragert said.
"That's pretty significant, given the fact that we're 75 percent larger as far as the museum is concerned," he said. "Our collection has grown incrementally, too."
State Senate Minority Leader Sean Burrage, D-Claremore, and Rep. Marty Quinn, R-Claremore, said the lack of notification of the proposal upset them. But the matter isn't settled, they said.
"We've been told it does look like that issue has at least lost some momentum at this time," Quinn said. "Even the tourism director wasn't aware of this until the Friday evening before session started on Monday.
"Here we are as a governor's agenda item that you are going to put something under a tourism director, and you haven't even asked for input not only from her but you didn't contact Senator Burrage. You didn't contact the representative.
"It was very unprofessional. It was not handled well at all. ... I'm not still sleeping well at night until I know the session's over and that's been killed."
Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395
