Small step toward a home for museum

 By STEVE KELMAN

Staff Writer

The Bergenfield Museum Society’s quest for a new home may have moved a small step closer to reality.

A request for a memorandum of understanding was discussed during last week’s work session meeting of the mayor and council.

Borough Administrator Catherine Steinel said borough officials will soon have a "draft" copy of the document, but will need time to review it, along with an engineering report pertaining to the Cooper House.

For the past decade, the museum society’s collection has been in storage; and the organization’s board of trustees has been trying to find a home with its most recent hopes of moving into the Cooper House.

In March, Mayor Timothy Driscoll said the society would be receiving an answer "shortly" on whether it would be able to move into the house.

A memorandum of understanding would indicate the responsibilities that the society and the borough would have in administering the home and the museum.

"A memorandum of understanding is a something like a lease," said Vernon Cox, a member of the museum board of trustees. "It is where both sides agree to something, in this case the administration of the Bergenfield Museum."

At the May 6 work session meeting, Cox requested to see a copy of the engineer’s report.

"The preliminary draft of the engineer’s report was completed and submitted to the borough attorney to see what ramifications it would have on the memorandum of understanding," he said after the meeting.

"And I asked the attorney if I could review the engineer’s report so I could see how that report would impact any future agreements with us (the museum board)."

"I was told the report is in draft form and wasn’t ready," he said, "but when it is formalized, it will be made available to us."

In another matter, an agreement to hire a new company to manage the borough’s Web site was approved.

The governing body passed a resolution to appoint Virtual Town Pages of Fort Lee to manage the Internet site.

Council President Bruce Carlson said he supported the measure because there was room for improvement on the borough’s site, which is currently being run by the Pro Net Group.

"The Web site has to get better in terms of content," he said. "That’s why I am voting yes."