The Haines Borough’s aged museum building now has two potential owners—the Chilkoot Indian Association (CIA) and the Haines Sheldon Museum nonprofit. At the recommendation of interim manager Alekka Fullerton, the assembly voted Tuesday to discuss the future of the building with primary stakeholders before moving forward.

“I would like to see a facilitated conversation with respect to the museum including CIA, including the museum board, including other people because this has the opportunity to be a fantastic attribute for our entire community, and if we can get everyone to work together on this, it has the potential to be way, way better than it will be with just one entity working alone,” Fullerton said.

The assembly action was prompted by a letter museum trustees submitted requesting the borough sell the building to the nonprofit.

“The board and I felt it was important to try to get the building to ensure the collection stays with the building,” president Kelleen Adams said in an interview prior to Tuesday’s meeting.

The board’s request was prompted by CIA’s interest in the building as a home for a cultural center.

“It’s the unknown. When someone else is buying the building, you don’t know what will happen, so we need to make sure we have the opportunity,” Adams said.

The museum is currently quasi-governmental, staffed by borough employees who are overseen by a nonprofit board and work in a borough building. The majority of the collection is nonprofit owned. For the past year, the board has been exploring separation from the borough, an effort that was recently postponed due to lack of time prior to budget passage.

Under the current structure, the museum nonprofit covers operating costs while the borough pays for staff and maintenance. Taking on the building would make the nonprofit responsible for maintenance costs, which Adams said the board hopes to cover through grants. The borough has indicated that once the nonprofit separates, payroll funding will no longer be a guarantee.

CIA didn’t respond to a request for comment, but in earlier interviews, tribal administrator Harriet Brouillette said the tribe views the offer to take on the building as a way to breathe new life into a community institution. She said CIA would like to keep the nonprofit-owned collection in the building.

“We have no intention of telling them they can’t stay there… European history is an important part of our modern history and the European settlement of Haines is most definitely going to be included in any museum or cultural center that the tribe builds,” Brouillette said. “Right now, the building is sitting there without life, and I think that the tribe has the opportunity, the means and the desire to make the museum into a viable cultural center that will be alive and used.”

Last year, CIA was selected to participate in “Culture Builds Community: Facilitating the Planning and Construction of Native Museums.” Administered by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums, the program provides training and resources to help communities create a roadmap for designing and building a cultural center. CIA would forgo building a new center in favor of taking on the museum building.