Official Says Merger Hinges on Bylaw, Charter Changes

Newport Harbor Art Museum officials “absolutely” will scuttle plans to merge with the Laguna Art Museum if the Laguna museum membership fails to approve related bylaw and charter changes, NHAM President James V. Selna said this week.

Laguna trustee David Emmes II has said he thinks negotiations could continue in any case. But Selna said the amendments “represent important constitutional concerns for the Newport trustees and if they are not met, we just would not proceed.” The vote deadline is May 15.

Leaders at both museums say they anticipate approval, even though only 55% of the Laguna members approved the merger itself.

The most significant of the proposed changes would allow membership votes by proxy. Others stem from an agreement to keep the Laguna museum building open as a semiautonomous branch of the consolidated Orange County Museum of Art.

Meanwhile, Chet Horn, an official of the state attorney general’s office--the only other potential obstacle in the merger’s path--refused to speculate Tuesday whether the merger’s approval might be held up pending an opposition group’s efforts to have the Laguna trustees recalled.

The group, Motivated Museum Members, has said it will present a recall petition, at which point, under current museum bylaws, the trustees would schedule a recall vote in 30 to 90 days. MMM leaders expressed confidence Sunday that the attorney general would not act on the merger until the recall question is settled.