Railway Museum Board Derailed; Museum on Track for Six More Months

SAN ANGELO, TX -- The San Angelo City Council gave the San Angelo Railway Museum, Inc. six months to fix itself by offering month-to-month lease of the historic Santa Fe Depot at 703 S. Chadbourne St.

Mayor Brenda Gunter said she expected the Museum to develop a plan to move forward.

The council and City staff have been struggling with what to do with the old depot’s lease that expired Sept. 16.

Originally, Railway Museum Board Chairman David Wood was attempting to gain concessions from City staff to replace the HVAC system and repave the parking lot, two very costly items when considering the depot lease was for just $1 per year. Some at the City, including Mayor Brenda Gunter, wanted the Railway Museum organization to generate more revenue so it can handle building maintenance.

The demands of the new lease urged Wood to recruit new blood to join the Museum’s board. It appeared for a short while that the new board would save the lease. Then the board fell apart due to infighting and resignations. Wood hired Shannon Carpenter to be the Museum’s Executive Director without board approval.

Carpenter said she secretly recorded Wood making off-color remarks about women. Another board member allowed us to publish her email accusing Wood of sexual harassment. In a heated mult-hour board meeting earlier this month, Wood resigned.

Then a week later, Carpenter tendered her resignation.

Carpenter told the council Tuesday morning that she was sexually harassed. Members of the public urged the council to remove and replace the Museum board.