Fishing Museum struggles to keep from going under

The Minnesota Fishing Museum, located on the westside of Little Falls, is struggling to stay afloat financially.

Facing this fact, members and staff of the museum, including newly-named Board President Jeff Zyvoloski, came before the Little Falls City Council to request a grant of $23,200 to put the museum back on stable waters.

Reasons given for the museum’s precarious state included some poor financial management, and the legislature’s failure to provide funding, followed by little support from local corporations. “When the legislature did nothing, they backed off,” said museum secretary Leeanne Doucette of the corporations. “They told us they were waiting until the museum was located on the highway,” added Council Chairman Mike Doucette.

Presenting a financial review of the museum for 1999 was Mary Backlund. The report indicated revenue for the year came to $65,831, with the largest amount—$36,000—coming from grants. Expenses for the year totaled $91,464, giving the museum a minus $25,633 in assets for the year. Adding in the $9,352 that the museum started the year off with, its net assets at the end of the year came to minus $16,281.

Also addressing the council was Barry Mowers, a member of the museum, who included a projection of the museum’s financial state for the present year. It showed a balanced budget.

Contributing to the balanced budget, explained Mowers, is a cut made in expenses, and the fact that, in November, the museum will be getting all the proceeds from a gambling site. Presently, and in the past, the museum’s gambling proceeds have been under the auspicies of the Exchange Club, sharing the proceeds with other charities and organizations chosen by the club.

“But, a balanced budget wouldn’t extinquish the $9,800 that the museum still owes,” said Mowers. He went on to point out the museum also needs $8,400 to “provide working capital to smooth up- coming seasonal cash flow difficulties, and $5,000 to provide working capital to invest in sufficient gift shop inventory. Therefore, the total the museum is asking you for is $23,200. The museum can continue on if it gets out of this hole.”

Also on hand at the meeting was Wayne Pikal, the museum’s education director who went on to launch Little Falls Aqua-Tech, a professional diagnostic lake monitoring service. “The Initiative Foundation gave us some money to get our progam started,” he explained. “Unfortunately, much of it went into the museum’s general fund. I’ve been financing the program out of my own pocket. It will eventually be a self supporting program.”

Continuing, Pikal said that while the school district had invited him to move his program to the school, his alliance remained with the museum. “The school, however, is now my fiscal agent,” he said. “I didn’t want any more of my funds disappearing.”

A couple of council members expressed concern with the request of the museum staff. “This is a state museum,” said Kate Sobiech. “Still, the taxpayers of Little Falls are asked to donate. Where is the limit?” Joe Sauer added, “And, what if it doesn’t go?”

Answering the two, Pikal said, “I can’t imagine us coming back three times a year. I wouldn’t want to come back at all. If it doesn’t make it, we’ll just have to say, ‘It was a good idea, but, it just didn’t work.’”

One positive comment given came from Hub Zyvoloski. “I see it as a good investment for the city,” he said. “It brings in tourists.”

Because the Monday evening meeting was simply a planning meeting for the council, no decision was made on the request by the museum staff. A vote on whether to approve the grant will be made at the council’s regular meeting of September 11.