Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 4, 1995 TAG: 9502060043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
Contrary to rumor and speculation, the Virginia Museum of Natural History won't be moving out of Martinsville any time soon.
At a meeting of the museum's Board of Trustees on Friday, the relocation issue and another talked-about topic - the future of the museum's executive director - were put to rest for the time being.
Connie Gendron, just like the museum, is staying put.
Disregarding calls by several Henry County elected officials for Gendron to step down, the trustees stood firmly behind their director Friday.
Del. Ward Armstrong of Martinsville, state Sen. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount and others criticized Gendron this week. Armstrong said she is a ``lightning rod'' for controversy and no longer can be effective doing one of the things the museum needs most: fund raising.
Some of her critics were outraged by a state budget amendment drafted by state Sen. Brandon Bell of Roanoke County last week that would slash the museum's budget in half and give the money to Explore Park and other Roanoke Valley attractions.
A few even went so far as to say that Gendron was in cahoots with Bell to weaken the museum so a relocation effort would look more attractive.
But William Shear, who assumed chairmanship of the museum board at the meeting, had nothing but good things to say about Gendron.
He lashed out at Gendron's critics, saying their charges ``are utterly without merit, baseless and false. Those who have made them are unable to provide a single specific instance in support, nor have they cited any facts which would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the museum has been mismanaged.''
Outgoing chairman Seward Anderson, mayor of Danville, also complimented her. Anderson was a member of the search committee that hired Gendron - then a fund-raiser for the museum - as executive director in 1991.
``I'll be honest, Connie wasn't my first choice for the job - but I was wrong,'' said Anderson, who then mentioned the budget cuts and tough decisions that the museum faced in the past four years. ``Connie has been dedicated, she would not leave, and she would not take no for an answer. For that, each of us should be grateful.''
Specifically, Seward recalled Gov. Douglas Wilder's administration, which cut the museum's budget by one-third two years ago.
With the large budget reduction and smaller staff, Gendron still managed to implement more than 20 objectives in the museum's 1992-96 long-range plan - and did it a year early, said Shear, a professor of biology at Hampden-Sydney College.
Funding for a new facility is the only objective in the plan that hasn't been fulfilled, Shear pointed out.
``Know that Director Gendron's continuance in office is not negotiable,'' he said. ``She will remain director of the Virginia Museum of Natural History. She has the full confidence of this board.''
Shear's words were followed by applause. Not one of the 22 trustees in attendance offered any objections.
Neither did Martinsville Mayor George Adams, who, along with Henry County Board of Supervisors Chairman Francis Zehr, sent a letter to the board this week calling for the trustees to approve a search for a new director.
Adams, who was present Friday, said he was encouraged by statements made during the meeting that stressed the importance of increased communication among the trustees and the need for an open dialogue with the people of Martinsville.
Adams also said the news media misunderstood the part of the letter that requested the director's search. He said the letter did not call for Gendron's replacement, but instead advocated the hiring of someone to help her. ``She's got too much to do,'' he said.
Friday's meeting was opened by Becky Norton Dunlop, state secretary of natural resources.
Dunlop, whose department oversees the museum's budget, did not take a position on the relocation issue.
She also didn't guarantee continued funding of the facility at current levels.
The General Assembly is considering only a slight reduction in the museum's $2 million state funding this year.
However, Dunlop did say that the trustees need to decide ``what is it that we want out of this museum.''
She said some touchy subjects need to be addressed by the board, such as the museum's future as a state agency; its program emphasis, whether it be research, tourism or a little of both; and the feasibility of building a new facility in Martinsville, Roanoke or one of several other localities interested in the museum.
``You must remember that this museum belongs to all citizens of the commonwealth,'' she said.
Following Dunlop's comments, Gendron presented the trustees with several charts that show corporate and individual donations in Martinsville and Henry County have been on a decline since 1988, while the number of people the museum serves and the size of its collection have gone up.
Through outreach programs - billed under the slogan ``The Museum Without Walls'' - the natural history museum served 1.2 million people across the state last year. In 1988, it served 1,000.
The museum has so many collection pieces that there's nowhere to store some of them.
Shear, the new chairman, took all the facts in. He said he advocates using the museum's resources to bolster the outreach programs.
Shear is chairman of a board subcommittee that had planned to send a packet of information to the handful of localities that have inquired about the museum's future.
But because two of the three subcommittee members were not briefed on the contents of the packets, Gendron told Shear on Friday that she did not send them out.
``That's just as well,'' he said. ``We need to look at our strategic plan, and I just don't see that as being very important right now.''
It was stated more than once during Friday's meeting that an effort to raise money for a new building - estimated at $16 million - isn't a priority at a time when the museum is fighting for every dollar it can get.
by CNB