The St. Joseph Museums received a vote of confidence from the City Council on Monday.

“I’m glad to get that contract going,” said Vince Capell, city manager. “Maybe we can move on.”

Despite several years of acrimonious behavior and a lawsuit over how the St. Joseph Museums operated, no one stepped forward to make a negative public comment at Monday’s council meeting. The museum’s handling of the Wyeth-Tootle mansion had been called into question for several years.

The City Council previously appointed Donna Jean Boyer and Mike Hirter to work directly with the museum. All council members participated in work sessions with city staff and museum representatives to work out a detailed four-year agreement.

“I read through the contractual agreement and am pleased with what it says,” Ms. Boyer told her fellow council members Monday.

The city council passed the four-year contract with the museum without further discussion.

The contract will remain essentially the same as the one-year deal the city and SJMI agreed upon in 2008, with 25 percent of the $400,000 contract directed to the Wyeth-Tootle Mansion.

“We’ve spent four years trying to get to this point,” said Dick DeShon, a local businessman and museum board member who smiled as he left the council chambers.

The city will have to approve the money for each of the four years so council members still have a strong voice in what the museum does, said Merry Burtner, the St. Joseph Museums board president.

“Now we can spend more time and energy doing museum work,” Mrs. Burtner said.

The museum will be aggressively pushing the strategic plan it developed with community assistance, she said. This includes a funding development program to implement a series of new exhibits for the Wyeth-Tootle mansion, Mrs. Burtner said. The museum will be seeking more community involvement and providing more public education programming, she said.

The contract passed 6-0, with Mayor Ken Shearin and councilwoman Barbara LaBass abstaining and Mike Bozarth absent. The mayor said he had questions about whether the contract was the correct thing to do with city funds.

Marshall White can be reached

at marshall@npgco.com.