Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410030051
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Director Rupert Cutler said the decision was difficult, but was made on behalf of the park, which is $220,000 in debt.
He took responsibility for the decision, in consultation with Explore's governing board, to lay off Burrow. The park's $926,000 annual budget comes mostly from state and local funding, and the board's top priority is to get the park operating in the black.
The park's chief naturalist, Jim Baldwin, and an office assistant also were laid off, effective immediately. Burrow, two security guards and two assistant naturalists will leave at the end of the month.
The layoffs reduce the staff by one-third. Cutler said job performance was not a factor in choosing the seven employees, whom he praised, particularly Burrow.
Except for Bern Ewert, who dreamed up the idea for the park, "Richard Burrow has been the single most important individual ... to date in the service of Explore Park," Cutler said.
Burrow, reached by phone later in the day, said he was "completely taken by surprise," when Cutler informed the workers of the layoffs at a staff meeting Friday afternoon.
"I'm still stunned by what was done, still in the process of sorting out my feelings," Burrow said. "My heart and soul have been in building Explore Park. I haven't even thought about doing anything else for years."
Burrow began work part-time on the park in 1985, when he was still an engineer for Roanoke. He was hired full time the following year, and together with Ewert - Roanoke's former city manager who originally envisioned a grand-scale amusement park - began making the park a reality.
"I carried the park through the entire planning process, zoning and permitting," Burrow said. "I have been there in the good times and the bad times. There is not a job at the park I haven't done. The park looks like what I wanted it to look like."
Cutler said Burrow's job was mainly planning and construction, which is complete for now, and the park has no need for an in-house engineer. Construction projects in the future will be done under contract on a building-by-building basis.
"If mutually agreed upon, Burrow may be a contractual construction manager," Cutler said.
Burrow's annual salary was $72,000 - enough to pay for four historic interpreters, Cutler said, which is where the park's focus now lies. The old school, farmhouse and other buildings that Burrow helped relocate and rebuild are "themselves not worth the $4 admission. They have to be brought to life by the interpreters," Cutler said.
The park ran itself into debt this spring in its rush to open by July 1. One of the most expensive items was a new public restroom, which, at $60,000, turned into a black hole for funding.
Burrow will receive a severance package beyond his last month's work. He said doing contract work was possible, but he has not thought much about what his future involvement with the park might be.
"It's not just a job for me," he said.
by CNB