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EAST LIVERPOOL — Most of the questions surrounding the future of the Museum of Ceramics were answered Wednesday night during a dinner meeting between state officials and local supporters.

“At 6:23 this evening, we reached an agreement in principle,” Jack Vodrey, a member of the Museum of Ceramics Foundation, said. “Beginning Saturday, we will be managing the facility.”

The Ohio Historical Society (OHS) announced a restructuring of the organization and a plan to work with other groups to operate four sites across the state under management agreements including the Museum of Ceramics.

Starting Saturday, the newly formed Museum of Ceramics Foundation will take the management helm but will still remain associated with the OHS.

“Partial, interim funding will come from the Ohio Historical Society to get this started,” Vodrey said and added, “We are absolutely on the right track, and we are going to get it done.”

Due to a “softening Ohio economy” and other factors, the OHS budget was cut by 2 percent, and further cuts are expected, according to OHS Executive Director Bill Laidlaw.

Laidlaw and several other OHS officials headed up a public meeting Wednesday night at the East Liverpool Motor Lodge. Museum supporters, along with community and business leaders were in attendance.

After years of budget cutbacks in 2001, the OHS handled most of the revenue loss through shortened hours at various sites around the state and by eliminating personnel.

Laidlaw said this year’s slash in state funding, what he called a “very serious intrusion in our budget,” meant the organization had to “find ways to take whole functions out” of the equation.

By turning over the day-to-day operation of the museum to local management control, the OHS would be able to keep an association without the roughly $114,000 in early state funding.

Vodrey said the local group has put together a yearly budget of approximately $90,000 to run the museum. Sarah Vodrey, historic site manager and Jack Vodrey’s daughter, will see a 17 percent pay cut. Sarah Vodrey is currently an OHS employee, but that will change in the next few months.

In the tentative agreement, the OHS will pay $4,000 a month for the next nine months to support the museum during the transition, and on June 30, 2009, the amount will drop to $750 a month.

Jack Vodrey said the museum has meant a lot to his family and his father, once the president of the Ohio Historical Society in the 1960s, dreamed of the local museum being a part of the OHS.

“My goal is to save the institution,” Jack Vodrey said. “I’m in it for the long haul as my father was in it for the long haul.”

A few details still remain between the non-profit organization and the OHS. For example, the local management’s ability to add new and different exhibits to the mix must still be negotiated and finalized.

Vodrey said he has had to deal with four different entities associated with the museum in order to reach a final accord.

Some 29 of the 59 sites in Ohio associated with the OHS are managed by local organizations.

Laidlaw said he was “impressed and heartened by the passion of the letters” sent to his office following the announcement of the budget cut. The passion provided the basis of strong community support for the museum, Laidlaw suggested.

The OHS executive director offered high praise to Jack Vodrey, Sarah Vodrey and Jeff Hendrickson for working with the state and for getting the plan of action together.

“The local support is going to make all the difference,” Laidlaw said.

The Museum of Ceramics has already adjusted the hours of operation. The museum will be open from 9:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and will be closed Sunday and Monday.

 

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