ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060037
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
A former NASA official hired to run Explore Park about a year ago has been forced out amid differences over management of the frontier village replica.
Chet Simmons resigned Oct. 23, Rupert Cutler, the park's executive director, said Tuesday. Cutler said he asked Simmons to leave because the two men had conflicting management styles.
"We just basically found it difficult to work together," Cutler said.
Simmons, who could not be reached for comment, started 14 months ago as the first full-time, salaried general manager of the 21/2-year-old living history park in Roanoke County. He had ended a 15-year career with the federal space shuttle program, working at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, to come to Virginia's Explore Park.
Simmons had been touted as an expert at managing contractors because he had overseen some of the contractors who worked on the space center grounds and its launch pads. Explore Park needed that kind of expertise to oversee the reconstruction of several historic buildings and assist with crews building the federally funded Roanoke River Parkway, a connection between the park and Blue Ridge Parkway. Simmons was also chosen because he was a history buff.
Simmons performed to expectations on construction oversight, Cutler said. He was "outstanding" in how he handled the park's finances and responsibilities to the park's governing board, said Jack Loeb, chairman of the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority, Explore's governing board.
"But there's some other things that didn't go too well," Cutler said.
Cutler would provide only one specific example, saying Simmons wanted every staff member to report to him. Cutler said he disagreed.
On Oct. 23 - six days before the end of the park's season - "things just kind of came to a head," Cutler said.
Simmons received two months and two weeks pay, according to the terms of his contract. He planned to return to Florida, Cutler said.
Former Vinton Town Manager George Nester will act as general manager of the park, which is scheduled to reopen in April. Nester was acting manager before Simmons was hired.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY\Staff. Menno Kissinger directs a 45-ton craneby CNBduring the placement of the roof on the old Brugh Tavern at Explore
Park in Roanoke on Tuesday. It will house a new restaurant, slated
to open in April 1998. The old tavern, originally in Troutville, was
taken apart and moved to Roanoke in September 1995. color.