BREAKING NEWS – Sternberg Building is ‘Fine’; Deferred Maintenance Common at State-Owned Facilities

Photo courtesy of the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) 

The Sternberg Museum building is “fine” and deferred maintenance common at state-owned facilities. Museum supporters and donors to the Fort Hays State University (FHSU) Foundation Save Sternberg fundraising campaign need not worry that the building is in disrepair or has not been maintained.

This assessment comes from Mr. David VanDoren, who toured the Sternberg Museum with FHSU officials on Oct. 6.

VanDoren, a fourth-generation FHSU alum, Hays resident and businessman said the building requires no immediate major repairs, challenging the impression that its reported $20 million in deferred maintenance represents current structural or facility failures.

“Sternberg staff and FHSU maintenance have done a great job of maintaining the Sternberg Museum and repairing or replacing things as needed. The only noticeable item is the animated T-Rex, which needs new mechanisms for the action, but that is an exhibit issue and nothing to do with the building facility,” said VanDoren.

VanDoren initiated Tuesday’s building tour with FHSU Facilities Planning Director Dana Cunningham and two other university employees and reported that he also reviewed the museum’s deferred maintenance list during the visit.

“The only sizable items that will likely need to be replaced over the next few years are the heating and ventilation systems,” VanDoren said. “Nothing is needed right now for the building.”

VanDoren said deferred-maintenance lists identify items that eventually will need to be repaired or replaced and do not necessarily indicate existing problems. As an example, he said the university’s new $12 million facility at the football field also has a deferred-maintenance list.

“It’s just the way all state-owned facilities are monitored, but very misleading for most people,” he said.

VanDoren said he speaks from decades of experience as a licensed contractor and the owner and operator of large buildings. He has owned and operated the Hadley Center for more than 25 years and said it is twice the size and age of the Sternberg Museum.

“I completely understand what it takes to own, maintain and operate large facilities. We built the Sternberg Museum building about 40 years ago as a first class health club,” VanDoren said.

VanDoren said the most noticeable item needing repair at the museum is the animated Tyrannosaurus rex, which needs new mechanisms. However, he said that is an exhibit issue and is unrelated to the condition of the building.

FHSU President Tisa Mason discussed the museum’s $20 million in deferred maintenance during an exclusive Oct. 5 interview. Mason also said every university building has deferred maintenance because mechanical systems and other infrastructure have limited useful lives, requiring institutions to anticipate their eventual replacement.

Mason said FHSU is not an outlier among Kansas Board of Regents universities. She said the university receives state funding and uses money from its operating budget each year to maintain its facilities. FHSU also reports its plans and goals to the Board of Regents, which has policies and procedures governing the process.

Mason said the annual subsidy required to operate Sternberg — not an immediate building problem — drove the university’s decision to close the museum. However, she said removing Sternberg’s deferred-maintenance obligations from FHSU’s books would allow the university to direct future maintenance funding toward core academic buildings, including Malloy Hall.

“But aside from that, it was the subsidy that drove the decision to close, but there was also an awareness [that] without that deferred maintenance on that building, as the money came through, we could be fixing other campus core academic buildings faster,” Mason said.

On Tuesday, Oct. 6, Mason directed the FHSU Foundation that the Save Sternberg campaign must now raise $1 million, instead of the original $855,000 direction, by Dec. 31 to keep Sternberg Museum open another year. As of 4:30 p.m. this afternoon, $229,964.21 has been raised. The campaign represents a significant challenge, but organizers and supporters have continued rallying around the museum, its collections and its role in education, research and tourism.

Visit https://foundation.fhsu.edu/save-sternberg/ to donate.

Photos courtesy of David VanDoren