SR-11-26-2013-3FCity Council Meeting: November 26, 2013
Agenda Item: 3- r
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Wright Rix, Acting Library Director
Subject: Santa Monica Historical Society Museum Lease Modification
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to:
Negotiate and execute a first modification of Lease Agreement No. 7895 with the
Santa Monica Historical Society Museum, a California nonprofit corporation, to
permit alcohol to be served on Museum premises for two fundraising events per
calendar year and update the Museum's insurance requirements.
Executive Summary
The City and the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum entered into a lease
agreement on September 27, 2006, for the Museum to occupy 5,000 square feet in the
Main Library facility. Following a successful capital fundraising campaign to build out the
space and to make tenant improvements, the Historical Society opened the Santa
Monica History Museum in this space on October 24, 2010. The Chair of the Museum's
Board of Directors has requested that the lease be amended to allow serving alcohol at
fundraising events on Museum premises. Staff recommends that the lease be modified
to facilitate fundraising to support the Museum's ongoing goals of collecting, preserving,
interpreting and making accessible the history of the Santa Monica Bay area and to
update the Museum's insurance requirements.
Background
The Santa Monica Historical Society was founded in 1975 under the auspices of the
Santa Monica Centennial Committee to collect and preserve the history, culture and art
of the City. In 1988 the Santa Monica Historical Society Museum was founded to "make
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accessible the historical collection to the public; to advance historical knowledge and
information; and to impart to residents and others, particularly youth, a sense of
community and appreciation for the diverse, multicultural past of Santa Monica." After
several years of searching for a permanent location to house its expanding collections
and services to the community, on February 27, 2001, the City Council authorized an
additional 5,000 square feet of space for the Museum in the Main Library building
project and outlined major terms for a 20 -year lease agreement between the City and
the Museum. Following a successful capital building campaign, the Santa Monica
History Museum opened on October 24, 2010, at 1350 Seventh Street, in the northeast
corner of the Main Library campus.
Discussion
In its new home on the Main Library campus, the Santa Monica History Museum
provides public access to its collections of art, artifacts, photographs and documents
through interpretive exhibitions and interactive displays. Its educational programming
includes free tours for school classes and youth groups, lectures, events and workshops
at the Museum and in the community. Researchers have access to the Morley Builders
Research Library and more than 600,000 photographs, one of the largest photographic
archives in Southern California. The Museum is actively digitizing and making its image
archives available online.
Upon successfully concluding its Permanent Home Capital Campaign through the build
out of its space and installation of permanent exhibitions, the Santa Monica History
Museum continues its fundraising efforts to ensure the vitality of its operations,
acquisitions, and exhibition and educational programs. The Museum's Board of
Directors believes the prohibition of serving alcohol on the Museum's premise in its
lease impedes its fundraising ability and requests an amendment to this term.
Specifically, the Museum's Board of Directors wishes to provide special evenings with
food and wine to thank donors and attract new donors. As is the case with other
museums and cultural organizations such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
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the Santa Monica Museum of Art and other Los Angeles' area museums, the Board
views this as a fundamental fundraising tool.
Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.200 prohibits the consumption of alcoholic
beverages on public property, including public buildings. There is an exception for public
property occupied pursuant to a lease, permit or license, when the lease, permit or
license authorizes the sale and consumption of alcohol. Staff recommends that the
Museum's lease Section 4.3(f) with the City be deleted and replaced with terms to
permit alcohol service and consumption under the following conditions and restrictions:
a) The Museum is permitted to serve alcoholic beverages at two fundraising events
each calendar year, held on the premises and specifically to benefit the
Museum.
b) Alcohol service and consumption must be held within the Museum's leasehold
site and is not permitted on adjacent public areas or the Library Common Areas.
c) The Museum must give prior notice (according to the lease terms of Article XVII,
17.1 Notices) of alcohol service at its fundraising event at least ten (10) business
days to the attention of the Landlord's representative, the City Librarian, with
copies to the Director of Community and Cultural Services and the City Attorney.
d) The Museum must comply with all applicable California laws regarding alcoholic
beverages and service.
e) Alcohol service at museum fundraising events must only be through properly
licensed and bonded caterers (their employees and subcontractors) and may not
be served by volunteers of the Museum.
f) Alcohol service must cease at least one -half hour before the end of the
Museum's fundraising event.
For the Museum to serve alcohol at fundraising events requires amendments to its
Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance requirements Specifically, if the Museum
holds a fundraising event on its premises that includes alcohol service, the Museum will
ensure that the event vendor or caterer serving the alcohol provide the City with
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evidence of liquor liability coverage with limits of no less than $1,000,000 per
occurrence.
Further, if the Museum fundraiser involves the sale of alcoholic beverages (e.g., a no-
host bar) then the vendor /caterer must provide the City with evidence of a valid liquor
sales license and liquor liability insurance covering alcohol sales. Other modifications to
the original terms of the lease included revisions of language to make them consistent
with more recent leaseholds and deletion of insurance requirements (e.g., Builders' Risk
Insurance) that were superseded with the completion of the construction of the Museum
space. The recommended actions of modifying the lease to permit alcohol service at
two Museum fundraisers annually would result in better opportunities to recognize and
attract donors and increase social connection with staff and other patrons to the mutual
benefit of the Museum as Tenant and the City as Landlord.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
There is no immediate financial impact or budget action necessary as a result of the
recommended action.
Prepared by: Susan E. Annett, Principal Librarian — Public and Branch Services
roved:
Wright Rix
Acting Library Director
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Forwarded to Council:
Rod Gould
City Manager
Reference:
Modified Agreement No. 7895
(CCS)