How You Can Help!

Let your voice be heard! Write, call or email the county commissioners and let them know what you expect of your museum. Below are sample letters you can send in as well as the contact information of the County Commission.

If you have done so, please drop us an email at savethepioneermuseum@gmail.com so we can keep track of the letters sent.

Sample Letter in .pdf format

OR

Copy, edit and add to the text below and send it in! Remember, a written letter sent through the mail is always the best, but if all you have time for is an email, every communication will help! Don't forget to include your name and address so they know you are a real member of Fremont County!

To email the County Commission: Email commission@wyoming.com
Send your letters to:
Fremont County Commissioners
450 North Second St.
Lander, WY 82520

County Commissioners are: Keja Whiteman, Dennis Heckart, Doug Thompson, Pat Hickerson, Dennis Christensen. Feel free to look them up and give them a call!

Letter Text:

Dear Fremont County Commission,

I, as a resident of Fremont County, am writing to convey my concern over the recent events at the Fremont County Pioneer Museum. I would like to see a museum that ensures the preservation of history in Fremont County for my children and grandchildren. I do not believe the current staff or board members have provided this and believe the residents of Fremont County have a right to a museum that provides:

• Good stewardship of its resources held in the public trust – A place where artifacts are cared for so that they will available for future generations instead of being found in the trash.

• A commitment to providing the public with physical and intellectual access to the museum and its collections – A place where the public is invited to use the museum and its artifacts/archives for research and their presence is welcomed.

• Public accountability and transparency in its operations and planning - Museum policies and procedures are clear and accessible to the public and are managed for public benefit not personal gain.

• Ongoing community involvement in its planning - Including various volunteer opportunities and educational programs instead of a hostile environment where volunteers and the community are run out and scared off.

• A museums board and staff willing to work to establish working relationships with local non-profits – A board willing to address issues with the Museum of the American West and the Pioneer Association and work together with other entities.

I would like to see measurable steps taken by the commissioners to ensure the Pioneer museum is a point of pride in our community and is managed by a different board and staff who are willing and able to address the above concerns.

Sincerely,

A Letter Shared

Savethepioneermuseum.blogspot.com received the following letter from another concerned citizen. Please keep your letters headed to the commission's desk!

County Commissioners,

As you well know, there is a serious problem at the Pioneer Museum. The problem needs your decisive action and leadership now. This is not another "good ole boy" issue (it obviously cannot be resolved internally). It is serious and it needs fixing.

#1. Get the facts and fast. Send in your auditors, the County Treasurer, or a strong county official and look at the records, time sheets, and interview, under oath, all the present and past staff. Answer the allegations one by one and look for other improprieties. Then tell the citizens of the county what you found. This is not just a personnel issue you can hide behind closed doors. It is a management issue and deserves transparency.

#2. Suspend the county museums board. It is clear this board is not providing the oversight and direction it is required to exercise. The leadership appears to be weak and commissioner Thompson is not doing his job either as liaison. He needs to admit it and assign someone else to do the job.

#3. Once you have the facts I suspect they will be clear. They will either show the board has been doing a very thorough job in its roll and the director has been doing a great job. Or the facts will show that the board has been inept, weak, and not fulfilling its responsibilities and the director has mismanaged the museum, its artifacts and their care, the staff and very possible broken state and or federal laws. If so, the members of the board should be immediately fired and replaced with people who know something about running a museum, are strong leaders, not politically partisan and willing to take on the hard role of rebuilding the trust needed by the community in the museum. At the same time the Pioneer museum director should be fired and charges considered if, in fact, she told her staff members to falsify their time sheets, and or other laws were broken.

#4. Hire a well qualified professional director and pay that person a professionally competitive salary. It is not hard to do a wage survey for comparable positions in the museum field.

#5. The friction between the Museum of the American West and the Pioneer Museum needs to stop. From the communities point of view they are seen as two parts of the same thing.......a nice display of our history. If these museum folks can't work together, then bring the leadership of the two entities together and help them get the issues between them settled. If the Museum of the American West board is causing some of the problems then demand that they too make changes just as you are.

This seems to be an on going problem for your board and the citizens of Fremont county. It's time you show good management and get this thing solved in a business like manner, take decisive action, and show some real nonpartisan leadership that is in the best interest of the people(taxpayers).

Thank you,