THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501120411
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
Michael L. Bartlett, the director of Nauticus, has resigned suddenly. The announcement means the maritime attraction on the Elizabeth River will have to find a new leader to guide it through its first full year.
The resignation, offered in a letter Tuesday to the chairman of the Nauticus board, came just weeks after the City Council approved an extra $5.2 million in loans and a new deal of tax credits so the facility could pay its bills.
Bartlett said he was not forced out and had not lost faith in the project. He said he was leaving because he would rather be involved in the creative, early phases of developing an attraction than in its day-to-day operation.
``Nauticus might be better served by a president who loves operations as much as I love development,'' Bartlett wrote in his letter to Richard A. Goldbach. Goldbach is chairman of the council-appointed National Maritime Center Authority, which oversees Nauticus.
``Nauticus is fairly launched, and it is simply time for me to move on to other projects that are just entering the development stage,'' Bartlett wrote.
Mayor Paul D. Fraim on Wednesday thanked Bartlett for his service. When asked if he or other city officials had pressured Bartlett to resign, Fraim said he would not expand on a statement he released Wednesday.
In the statement, Fraim said Bartlett's ``vision and creativity gave us an attraction that we can all be proud of and one that has been recognized internationally for its innovations.''
Bartlett took the job in September 1992 on a five-year contract providing $150,000 a year in salary and $50,000 in annual benefits. Nauticus opened last June.
Although officially his resignation was effective immediately, Bartlett has agreed to stay on at his current pay level through May while the center searches for a new director. Afterward, he would be available as a consultant. He declined to discuss his career plans.
About 435,000 people visited Nauticus during 1994. This number is short of the 825,000 originally projected as necessary for the attraction to break even. Although several surrounding cities do subsidize major museums or attractions, the Norfolk City Council and project backers pledged that Nauticus would be self-sufficient and not need continual infusions of city money.
This year, Nauticus' first full year of operation, could show whether the project will live up to hopes or whether expectations will have to be reduced.
Bartlett was hired as a knowledgeable guide through the world of theme parks and attractions. He is the former president and chief executive officer of Expo '86, the world's fair in Vancouver, British Columbia, and a former senior vice president of the MCA/Universal Studios park in Florida.
Although Bartlett and Goldbach said Wednesday that Nauticus was out of its developmental stages, in the past city officials have talked of reworking exhibits to increase Nauticus' attendance figures.
But on Friday, Goldbach said Nauticus' current exhibits, which include Bartlett-inspired draws like Virtual Adventures, were essentially fine. He said Nauticus could not afford to add the ``blockbuster exhibits with a price tag of $1 or $2 million'' that would be necessary to substantially change the project's image.
``It's not possible to expand the exhibits and programming, without investing pretty heavily,'' Goldbach said. ``The money is just not there.''
Rather than rework exhibits, Goldbach said, the center must find ways to draw more people to them.
``I don't think we have yet tapped the attendance potential that is there for Nauticus,'' said Goldbach, who is president of Metro Machine Corp. ``Nor have we gotten a firm grasp on what it will take to do that. But we are working really hard at it.''
Although Bartlett complimented his bosses and the Nauticus project, he said his job as a developer and manager of theme parks was ``in the high-risk side of the equation.'' Such businesses, Bartlett said, typically include ``an awful lot of politics and a lot of scuffles.''
Bartlett said he arrived at his decision to resign gradually over the past few months. He said he was proudest of the attention Nauticus had received from the media around the country and abroad. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Michael L. Bartlett said he wasn't forced out but quit because he
liked developing, not running, an attraction.
KEYWORDS: NAUTICUS by CNB