Representatives of the Fraser-Fort George Museum Society and the Fraser-Fort George Regional District’s board of directors expressed optimism that The Exploration Place is making progress towards addressing its recent financial woes at the board’s Thursday, April 17 meeting.
In late 2023, the society was given an advance of $250,000 by the district and another advance worth the same amount in the first half of 2024.
To repay the $500,000 worth of debt, the regional district is reducing the museum’s quarterly grant payments by $31,115.44. The regional district owns the museum’s building.
On top of those payments, the museum society is also required to have its line of credit with the Royal Bank of Canada under a certain threshold by specified dates, it is not to have its bank overdraft exceed $25,000 and it is not to exceed a total of $225,000 worth of other debts and obligations without the written consent of the regional district.
The museum’s 2024 financial statements as well as a letter to the regional district board by executive director Alyssa Leier, which were presented at the meeting, showed that it violated the first condition of its loan by having a $200,000 balance on its line of credit as of Dec. 31, 2024 when it was not supposed to exceed $175,000.
Leier succeeded former director Tracy Calagheros in the role in July 2024, after the loan agreement had been established.
While addressing the board at the April 17 meeting, Leier made the case that changes made to operations at the Exploration Place are leading to a projected surplus this year and that revenues have exceeded targets every month so far in 2025.
“I do think that given that time that I had in those six months, it was nearly impossible to have that line of credit down to $175,000 by the end of the year,” Leier said. “But I am confident with the full year, we have that line of credit down so that we’re all comfortable with that.”
She added that she thought the line of credit balance could be reduced to just over $100,000 by the end of this year.
Those operational changes include layoffs. Leier’s letter said staffing has been reduced by 44 per cent compared to the same time last year representing savings of $34,000 per month.
Despite those layoffs, Leier told the board that The Exploration Place has actually increased its level of programming to help increase revenues.
However, she also cautioned that the facility is at its capacity limit for its current staff and any further layoffs would necessitate changes to operations.
Staff confirmed to the board that the first two debt payments had been executed on time and without issue.
Director Brian Skakun brought up The Exploration Place’s unsuccessful bid for $10,000 worth of grant funding from the city in both 2024 and 2025. When Prince George city council deliberated on city administration’s suggested grant recipients, Skakun moved for the grant to the museum to be removed.
Skakun brought that up at the regional district meeting, saying that he knew some museum representatives had issues with that process but that there would be more grant opportunities for the organization in future years.
He also said that he and his colleagues would do everything they can to support the museum going forward, acknowledging that the financial challenges occurred before Leier took over.
Leier thanked Skakun for his comments and said she thought some clarification on grant requirements and eligibility would be helpful for future years.
Speaking to The Citizen after the discussion with the board, Leier said she had been disappointed about the grant application to the city as the museum believed it was eligible to receive it.
“I just want to see clarification on where we are eligible so that we’re not spending staff resources applying for grants and then get turned down without any real reason,” she said.
Regarding The Exploration Place’s operational changes, she said she is confident in the facility’s financial situation for 2025 and she thinks the regional district is too.
On top of the layoffs, she said, the museum has brought back some preschool programming on the second floor and there has been a general increase in admissions and memberships.
Museum society board president Todd Whitcombe, a Citizen columnist, said the facility has also received some significant grants that are helping refurbish and regenerate its STEAM section — which stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
These STEAM fixtures are slowly being installed as they arrive, so there’s no official opening date, but Leier said every time visitors come in they’re likely to see something new.
“In the next two weeks we’ll have two big ones coming in from Science Kinetics that we’re really excited to share with the public,” she said.
Whitcombe added that the society board backs Leier’s work and said they know the museum’s staff are working extraordinarily hard to make it a success.
After the end of the regional district board meeting, chair Lara Beckett (Chilako River-Nechako) said despite the overage on the line of credit, it would have come up as a point of discussion if directors were looking to pull back on the loan agreement.
“We were comfortable in receiving their report and we’re wishing them the best and giving them the support to continue on,” she said.
