Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tampa Bay Times article on MOSI:

 

New MOSI leader hired to ‘keep the lights on’ until downtown move, Hillsborough administrator says

Friday, July 24, 2015 6:30pm

 

TAMPA — If the Museum of Science and Industry moves downtown, top Hillsborough County officials say its new leader shouldn’t move with it.

County administrator Mike Merrill told the Tampa Bay Times that Molly Demeulenaere, recently named president and CEO of MOSI, was good enough to “keep the lights on.” But he doubted her ability to lead the north Tampa museum in a new era downtown.

Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik on Friday reiterated his interest in moving MOSI to his $1 billion Channelside redevelopment project as an attraction for families and tourists.

“Unfortunately, even though we did a national search we didn’t end up with a lot of strong candidates,” Merrill said. “Even though Molly wasn’t the strongest candidate, she can keep things going until this thing with Vinik gets resolved.”

Does that mean he expects MOSI to search for a new director to replace Demeulenaere once that is resolved?

“I would definitely recommend that,” Merrill said. “We’re talking about a whole different game. You really want someone that has national credentials who would make MOSI a world-class name.”

MOSI board president Robert Thomas didn’t dismiss the idea of eventually replacing Demeulenaere. But he is reserving judgment until the museum finishes studying relocation.

“I’m keeping an open mind about everything,” Thomas said.

Other MOSI board members denied that’s even a consideration.

Asked Friday if Demeulenaere was hired to be a stopgap, Chris Lang, chair of the MOSI board’s governance committee, told theTimes: “I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”

Multiple attempts Friday to reach Demeulenaere through email and a museum spokesperson were unsuccessful.

MOSI removed Demeulenaere’s interim tag in June when they named her the next president and CEO following a national search. Her contract has yet to be negotiated, Thomas said.

Earlier this month, the Times reported Demeulenaere was chosen despite problems during her tenure leading Gulfcoast Wonder and Imagination Zone, a science museum in Sarasota.

Former G.WIZ stakeholders said Demeulenaere hid the depth of the museum’s financial woes and that she took out a $50,000 line of credit without board approval. The museum shuttered its doors shortly after she left in 2012.

County Commissioner Victor Crist said he was “shocked” to learn about Demeulenaere’s experience with G.WIZ.

“I would like to believe that the MOSI board did their due diligence,” Crist said, “but I still question the capabilities of this person now knowing the conditions of the facility that they left.”

Commissioner Sandy Murman said she knew about troubles at G.WIZ under Demeulenaere and was “pretty surprised that a lot of the MOSI board members didn’t really know that.”

Like Merrill, Murman expected MOSI to look for new leadership after the dust settles.

“Once they decide what’s going to happen with MOSI, I think the Vinik group and the county and the board at MOSI will kind of regroup,” Murman said. “Then I think they’ll probably go out and take another look and see what’s out there.”

Murman said uncertainly surrounding MOSI’s future was a deterrent to more qualified applicants. Five candidates were chosen from 83 applicants to interview. Two of the five told the Times they dropped out, though they did not cite the museum’s financial struggles or its potential move downtown.

Merrill personally interviewed Demeulenaere and another finalist, Ann Fumarolo, president and CEO of Shreveport, La., science museum Sci-Port.

“With what Vinik has proposed in play, it’s okay we didn’t make a big hire because it would have set certain expectations,” Merrill said.

While MOSI is a nonprofit independent of the county, Hillsborough remains tightly connected to the museum and holds a lot of trump cards.

The county is the museum’s landlord, creditor and, at times, its piggy bank. Hillsborough owns the land and the Fowler Avenue building that houses MOSI rent-free. It has extended the museum a line of credit and consistently contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to the museum to help prop it up.

The county paid $14,000 for Museum Management Consultants to conduct the national search to replace outgoing MOSI president and CEO Wit Ostrenko. The same consulting firm prepared a report for the county last year that outlined troubling financial problems, poor accounting and a lack of focus at MOSI.

Since that report, the county has become more engaged in MOSI’s finances. Tom Fesler, business and support services director for Hillsborough County, has sat on MOSI’s finance committee for the past two months.

“We’re very vested in that project and we want it to succeed,” Murman said. “We are not getting a return on our dollars like we do in other places.

“We’re holding their hands.”

MOSI has refused to make public financial and other records, insisting the museum does not have to. The county provided the Times monthly financial reports that MOSI submits to Hillsborough.

Those records show the museum has lost $350,000 since its fiscal year began in October despite cutting expenses by more than $1.1 million. Demeulenaere took over as interim president in August.

By this point last year, the museum had a small surplus of $177,000.

Admission sales are down more than $400,000 compared with the same nine-month period in 2014, though revenues from membership fees are up slightly.

MOSI board member Steve Kucera said he feels the museum is on the right track under Demeulenaere and was surprised by Merrill’s comments.

“It never crossed my mind that we would entertain the possibility that if we were to move that we would look for another CEO,” said Kucera, who was on the search committee. “I welcome having a conversation with Mr. Merrill and I can say that we as a board would welcome talking with the county more.”