JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Jackson city officials are asking for the city council’s help to staff up the Russell C. Davis Planetarium, more than a year before it’s expected to reopen.
“We want to start staffing the facility, at least with some of the most critical staff, one being an education coordinator, at least six months prior to [reopening],” said Pamela Scott, director of the city’s Human and Cultural Services Department. “Some other ones can be onboarded later than that.”
The facility is expected to reopen in the fall of 2025, some seven years after it was shut down for renovations.
Scott shared her department’s needs with the city council on Tuesday as budget deliberations continued, including the need for a new operating budget for the planetarium, which has been closed for years.
“Staffing alone is estimated to take about $170,000, just for the most critical staff,” she said. “We don’t have a budget for these operating costs.”
Other costs include utilities, such as water/sewer, electricity, internet and phone access, and security.
The planetarium was shut down in 2018 due to major issues with the building. Work on a $21 million renovation project at the downtown Jackson facility is underway now.
The project, which will improve access to the facility, also will mean new exhibits, classrooms, and space theater in honor of the late astronaut Ronald McNair, who was killed in the Challenger explosion.
Work is being funded with millions of dollars being raised by the Friends of the Planetarium, as well as other donations and allocations.
“Our deputy director, Mr. Mike Williams, is an excellent fundraiser and reports having raised more than $7 million this fiscal year alone, through government, private donors, and other avenues. However, those funds are generally allotted to their construction,” she said.
Outside of construction, Scott said the city will need to set aside funds to maintain the planetarium once it reopens. Security also will be needed to make patrons feel safe.
“Along that whole block, there’s the Jackson Convention Center, there’s the Planetarium, there’s the Arts Center, and there’s Thalia Mara Hall, and that area is in need of security,” she said. “That’s where a lot of the unhoused population spends time and lives, and do things that would probably deter the use of the facilities. So, security is a need in that area.”
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