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This is really a shame. Nicky and Susan Hughes are old friends of the AC. Spread the word.
By VICTORIA ALDRICH valdrich@amnews.com Central Kentucky News
HARRODSBURG - The Pleasant Hill Shakers were early hippies, content to run their commune in harmony with nature and their neighbors without the fighting that, too often, mars politics.
The wind isn't all that's chilly as a legal fight brews between Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill management and staff who say they were terminated without warning earlier this month.
Longtime employees let go on Jan. 16 include historic farm manager Ralph Ward and historian Susan Hughes. Five others who worked in the museum may have been fired in violation of federal law, according to Ward, including a pregnant woman in her 30s and others between ages 55 to 75.
Ward said management allowed human resources director Candy Parker to retire in December after four decades of service instead of firing her. Parker had opposed the cuts, Ward said.
A bitter irony won’t ease their pain. The man who dropped the ax, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill President and CEO Maynard Crossland, sued the state of Illinois in 2006, two years after he allegedly was forced out as a director of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency by then-governor Rod Blagojevich for refusing to fire Republican employees, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Hughes declined to speak, citing legal concerns. Ward said he was shocked when he was fired and asked to leave immediately. Neither he nor Hughes saw it coming, he said.
“Part of the mission of the village is education,” Ward said. “Both of us were managers. Neither of us ever received any kind of censorship or negative feedback, both of us always had glowing employee and service reviews.”
Crossland blames the cuts on declining attendance, an issue that has heavily impacted the American non-profit arts and entertainment sector in the past decade.
“We have a good solid client base that comes here year after year, and we are so thankful for that, but we can't sustain ourselves on that client base as it becomes older,” Crossland said. “We have to be able to attract a younger client base and be seen as a place to bring the family and participate in things so that they have the same feelings about this place when they have kids. The heyday of the ‘80s and ‘90s is over, and we need to be able to meet those kinds of expectations.”
“Every historic site and museum in this country is struggling with this,” Crossland said. “Historians, we’re just not into change.”
Shortly after Crossland came to Pleasant Hill in September 2011, the company began restoration and marketing studies to revitalize the compound, a group of 40 buildings United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing members occupied from 1805 to 1910, when the chapter disbanded. The last chapter member, Mary Settles, died in 1923.
Crossland said the compound includes 34 functional buildings stretched over 3,000 acres and a 1,000-acre nature preserve. Others await thousands of dollars in renovation, a struggle for the non-profit group since its revenue comes from a combination of grants and sales, according to Crossland.
That up-by-the-bootstrap ethic echoes how poor converts transformed the land from nothing to a thriving agricultural and commercial hub.
In the 1800s, members traveled the Midwest to sell everything from homemade boxes and bonnets to flat brooms and food. They also built starkly beautiful Shaker furniture, a signature design that modern manufacturers continue to replicate.
Local farmers purchased seeds, among the finest of their kind, and studied the colony’s advanced agricultural techniques. The commune also built what may have been the state’s first water tower and waterworks system.
Sharing that history was a goal for historians who began restoring the site in 1961, an expensive effort that continues today. Unlike other abandoned properties, Shaker buildings were solidly built and kept in good repair while used. Ironically, their solid design created extra problems when restoration began because buildings used now as inns, a restaurant, a museum and other functions weren’t designed for electrical wiring or modern air conditioning.
“Those rooms were developed 50 years ago when we didn’t have individual temperature controls so we can switch from air conditioning to heat when fall comes,” Crossland said.
After an active day on the farm, visitors want to relax in comfort, and that means being able to individually control room temperatures that can plunge at night, something even the staff can’t control now. Poor regional Internet and cell phone services also are big problems, Crossland added.
Younger visitors want the option of being able to learn interactively. Parents who stay at the inn need to be able to reach their children, Crossland said.
“They still want to be able to connect to home through phones and iPads,” Crossland said. “We need to be as effective and efficient as possible, and there is no way we can make enough money on this property to sustain 40 historic buildings and do what we want to do. Before can go out and ask people to invest in us, we need to be as efficient and effective as possible and show we are good stewards of that journey.”
Refocusing the marketing plan away from the inn and restaurant is risky, but it has to be done, according to Crossland.
Of $3,760,187 in total sales in 2012, $1,354,107 were from the restaurant and $979,188 from lodging.
Since he set foot on the property, Crossland said visitors have expressed surprise at how they perceived the Shakers, something he didn't think was being best expressed in a demo format.
"It was very difficult for them to capture what the Shaker experience was, they equated it with the Amish, and with being kind of conservative, backwards, stuck in their ways," Crossland said. "They were not that way at all. They were very innovative, very entrepreneurial and brought a great sense to agricultural and seed production."
Plans also are to expand and incorporate more activity in a garden that produces food cooked in the restaurant.
"We may not produce what the Shakers did, but if they were around today, they wouldn't produce the same things today either," Crossland said.
Unlike other cultural attractions, Shaker Village has no indoor facilities for concerts or other events that Crossland said would attract locals off-season. A calendar stretching into May offers everything from fish dinners, painting and fly-tying workshops to a Bluegrass festival. In recent months, a beekeeping workshop and Breakfast with the Babies events have been major draws.
Crossland cringed when he described how the deficits added up to job cuts, a step he said was necessary to move into a new direction. On Tuesday, employees left early when an Alberta clipper blanketed Mercer County roadways in snow while potential guests continued to call about reservations.
“We need to think about totality of everything that happens on this property and how every part works in conjunction with each other,” Crossland said. “It’s taken a lot of work and a lot of courage on the part of the board to take a look and say we are not giving up. We have to take a step back and look at it from a businesslike approach. There is no way we can continue this process and have fewer and fewer people show up. We are very excited, but you can’t guide it only on events that can happen two weekends a month; it has to happen every day.”
As a 501c3 profit receiving grants and donations in lieu of government funds, Crossland said Shaker Village is not required to publish financial reports. Tax returns for 2012, the last available, show Crossland was paid $157,037 plus $14,012 in retirement/deferred compensation and other non-taxed funds. His salary is set by the board, which is not paid.
Other officer salaries, with non-taxed and other compensation in parenthesis, were: vice president David Larson, $83,365 ($10,447); vice president Jennifer Broadwater, $62,769 ($8,984); CFO Anna Frazier, $68,654 ($9,624), and Human Resources Manager Candace Parker, $51,981 ($8,657). Total payroll was listed as $3,344,057 for 220 employees.
In 2011, Crossland was paid $44,418 ($1,404); Larson, $85,000 ($6,512); Broadwater, $57,539 ($6,100); Frazier, $51,154 ($3,922), and Parker, $46,538 ($6,029). Past president Madge Adams earned $61,885 ($5,349). Total payroll was listed as $2,293,647 for 208 workers. Records for 2010, the last available, show Adams earned $103,000 and total payroll was reported at $2,300,971 for 219 workers.
From spring to fall, the site is a major draw for tourists and school groups, according to Mercer County Judge-Executive Milward Dedman.
On Thursday, the company’s website still accepted applications for a creative services designer, a director of development and general applications for kitchen workers, housekeepers, tour guides and other general positions.
Danville resident Elizabeth Kennan Burns, board chairwoman, declined to comment on Crossland’s prior issues but did support the decision to reduce staff.
“Shaker Hill is moving to serve its public and to bring the Shakers’ message of sustainability, ingenuity and a sense of community life to the world at large,” Burns said. “Whatever management deems necessary will be done to make Shaker Village or any other organization meet its obligations.”
Ward disputes claims that attendance has fallen, which may be backed up by tax filings. In 2010, gross reported receipts were $5,179,797 with revenue of $4,097,645 and expenses of $4,702,927. In 2011, reported receipts were $5,016,661 with revenue of $4,832,849 and expenses of $5,703,594. In 2012, gross receipts increased to $5,386,249 with revenue of $5,252,841 and expenses of $6,358,768.
There is no way to verify actual attendance, according to Crossland, since not all guests pay admission. "Not everyone buys a ticket," Crossland said. "Some just stay at the inn, some eat at the restaurant and visit the museum."
For Ward, managing farm operations at Shaker Hill was a dream come true. Unlike other college graduates who wilt at dead-end jobs after graduation, he plunged into a job at Carter’s Grove at Colonial Williamsburg right after earning his master’s degree in history from Eastern Illinois University. While working as an agricultural specialist at The Homeplace in Tennessee, Ward said he was headhunted by Shaker Village in 1994.
When Crossland took over in September 2011, staff expected the normal administrative changes. Within eight months, Crossland began sending out memos mentioning potential direction changes that could increase visitors. The staff waited, but those changes never came, Ward said.
Ward said Crossland ingratiated himself to staffers, paying for bands to play and even for office coffee out of his own pocket. When he and Hughes were fired, they were told staff was being reduced. The next day, an employee Ward had supervised was offered his old job. Even more infuriating was finding their replacements were promoted to directors. "I've been driving workhorses for more than 30 years, then they hire someone without that kind of experience,” Ward said. "That's a safety concern. One week, we had excellent morale, the next, longtime people get canned and morale plummets."
In his heart, Crossland said he hopes the company won't have to make any further cuts, but he can't rule out any further reductions if they come to a place where decisions have to be made. "Whether I have been there or not makes no difference. It feels awful no matter what side of the table you are on."
Even if he were offered another position, Ward said he wouldn't take it. “I don't want my job back,” Ward said. “When I was sitting across the table from him when he fired me, it was like looking at the eyes of the devil, his eyes were so cold. I had chills on the back of my neck.”
Click Here to View the Original Story.
Here is the Shaker Village Home Page. Let them know what you think! http://www.shakervillageky.org/
This is really a shame. Nicky and Susan Hughes are old friends of the AC. Spread the word.
By VICTORIA ALDRICH valdrich@amnews.com Central Kentucky News
HARRODSBURG - The Pleasant Hill Shakers were early hippies, content to run their commune in harmony with nature and their neighbors without the fighting that, too often, mars politics.
The wind isn't all that's chilly as a legal fight brews between Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill management and staff who say they were terminated without warning earlier this month.
Longtime employees let go on Jan. 16 include historic farm manager Ralph Ward and historian Susan Hughes. Five others who worked in the museum may have been fired in violation of federal law, according to Ward, including a pregnant woman in her 30s and others between ages 55 to 75.
Ward said management allowed human resources director Candy Parker to retire in December after four decades of service instead of firing her. Parker had opposed the cuts, Ward said.
A bitter irony won’t ease their pain. The man who dropped the ax, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill President and CEO Maynard Crossland, sued the state of Illinois in 2006, two years after he allegedly was forced out as a director of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency by then-governor Rod Blagojevich for refusing to fire Republican employees, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Hughes declined to speak, citing legal concerns. Ward said he was shocked when he was fired and asked to leave immediately. Neither he nor Hughes saw it coming, he said.
“Part of the mission of the village is education,” Ward said. “Both of us were managers. Neither of us ever received any kind of censorship or negative feedback, both of us always had glowing employee and service reviews.”
Crossland blames the cuts on declining attendance, an issue that has heavily impacted the American non-profit arts and entertainment sector in the past decade.
“We have a good solid client base that comes here year after year, and we are so thankful for that, but we can't sustain ourselves on that client base as it becomes older,” Crossland said. “We have to be able to attract a younger client base and be seen as a place to bring the family and participate in things so that they have the same feelings about this place when they have kids. The heyday of the ‘80s and ‘90s is over, and we need to be able to meet those kinds of expectations.”
“Every historic site and museum in this country is struggling with this,” Crossland said. “Historians, we’re just not into change.”
Shortly after Crossland came to Pleasant Hill in September 2011, the company began restoration and marketing studies to revitalize the compound, a group of 40 buildings United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing members occupied from 1805 to 1910, when the chapter disbanded. The last chapter member, Mary Settles, died in 1923.
Crossland said the compound includes 34 functional buildings stretched over 3,000 acres and a 1,000-acre nature preserve. Others await thousands of dollars in renovation, a struggle for the non-profit group since its revenue comes from a combination of grants and sales, according to Crossland.
That up-by-the-bootstrap ethic echoes how poor converts transformed the land from nothing to a thriving agricultural and commercial hub.
In the 1800s, members traveled the Midwest to sell everything from homemade boxes and bonnets to flat brooms and food. They also built starkly beautiful Shaker furniture, a signature design that modern manufacturers continue to replicate.
Local farmers purchased seeds, among the finest of their kind, and studied the colony’s advanced agricultural techniques. The commune also built what may have been the state’s first water tower and waterworks system.
Sharing that history was a goal for historians who began restoring the site in 1961, an expensive effort that continues today. Unlike other abandoned properties, Shaker buildings were solidly built and kept in good repair while used. Ironically, their solid design created extra problems when restoration began because buildings used now as inns, a restaurant, a museum and other functions weren’t designed for electrical wiring or modern air conditioning.
“Those rooms were developed 50 years ago when we didn’t have individual temperature controls so we can switch from air conditioning to heat when fall comes,” Crossland said.
After an active day on the farm, visitors want to relax in comfort, and that means being able to individually control room temperatures that can plunge at night, something even the staff can’t control now. Poor regional Internet and cell phone services also are big problems, Crossland added.
Younger visitors want the option of being able to learn interactively. Parents who stay at the inn need to be able to reach their children, Crossland said.
“They still want to be able to connect to home through phones and iPads,” Crossland said. “We need to be as effective and efficient as possible, and there is no way we can make enough money on this property to sustain 40 historic buildings and do what we want to do. Before can go out and ask people to invest in us, we need to be as efficient and effective as possible and show we are good stewards of that journey.”
Refocusing the marketing plan away from the inn and restaurant is risky, but it has to be done, according to Crossland.
Of $3,760,187 in total sales in 2012, $1,354,107 were from the restaurant and $979,188 from lodging.
Since he set foot on the property, Crossland said visitors have expressed surprise at how they perceived the Shakers, something he didn't think was being best expressed in a demo format.
"It was very difficult for them to capture what the Shaker experience was, they equated it with the Amish, and with being kind of conservative, backwards, stuck in their ways," Crossland said. "They were not that way at all. They were very innovative, very entrepreneurial and brought a great sense to agricultural and seed production."
Plans also are to expand and incorporate more activity in a garden that produces food cooked in the restaurant.
"We may not produce what the Shakers did, but if they were around today, they wouldn't produce the same things today either," Crossland said.
Unlike other cultural attractions, Shaker Village has no indoor facilities for concerts or other events that Crossland said would attract locals off-season. A calendar stretching into May offers everything from fish dinners, painting and fly-tying workshops to a Bluegrass festival. In recent months, a beekeeping workshop and Breakfast with the Babies events have been major draws.
Crossland cringed when he described how the deficits added up to job cuts, a step he said was necessary to move into a new direction. On Tuesday, employees left early when an Alberta clipper blanketed Mercer County roadways in snow while potential guests continued to call about reservations.
“We need to think about totality of everything that happens on this property and how every part works in conjunction with each other,” Crossland said. “It’s taken a lot of work and a lot of courage on the part of the board to take a look and say we are not giving up. We have to take a step back and look at it from a businesslike approach. There is no way we can continue this process and have fewer and fewer people show up. We are very excited, but you can’t guide it only on events that can happen two weekends a month; it has to happen every day.”
As a 501c3 profit receiving grants and donations in lieu of government funds, Crossland said Shaker Village is not required to publish financial reports. Tax returns for 2012, the last available, show Crossland was paid $157,037 plus $14,012 in retirement/deferred compensation and other non-taxed funds. His salary is set by the board, which is not paid.
Other officer salaries, with non-taxed and other compensation in parenthesis, were: vice president David Larson, $83,365 ($10,447); vice president Jennifer Broadwater, $62,769 ($8,984); CFO Anna Frazier, $68,654 ($9,624), and Human Resources Manager Candace Parker, $51,981 ($8,657). Total payroll was listed as $3,344,057 for 220 employees.
In 2011, Crossland was paid $44,418 ($1,404); Larson, $85,000 ($6,512); Broadwater, $57,539 ($6,100); Frazier, $51,154 ($3,922), and Parker, $46,538 ($6,029). Past president Madge Adams earned $61,885 ($5,349). Total payroll was listed as $2,293,647 for 208 workers. Records for 2010, the last available, show Adams earned $103,000 and total payroll was reported at $2,300,971 for 219 workers.
From spring to fall, the site is a major draw for tourists and school groups, according to Mercer County Judge-Executive Milward Dedman.
On Thursday, the company’s website still accepted applications for a creative services designer, a director of development and general applications for kitchen workers, housekeepers, tour guides and other general positions.
Danville resident Elizabeth Kennan Burns, board chairwoman, declined to comment on Crossland’s prior issues but did support the decision to reduce staff.
“Shaker Hill is moving to serve its public and to bring the Shakers’ message of sustainability, ingenuity and a sense of community life to the world at large,” Burns said. “Whatever management deems necessary will be done to make Shaker Village or any other organization meet its obligations.”
Ward disputes claims that attendance has fallen, which may be backed up by tax filings. In 2010, gross reported receipts were $5,179,797 with revenue of $4,097,645 and expenses of $4,702,927. In 2011, reported receipts were $5,016,661 with revenue of $4,832,849 and expenses of $5,703,594. In 2012, gross receipts increased to $5,386,249 with revenue of $5,252,841 and expenses of $6,358,768.
There is no way to verify actual attendance, according to Crossland, since not all guests pay admission. "Not everyone buys a ticket," Crossland said. "Some just stay at the inn, some eat at the restaurant and visit the museum."
For Ward, managing farm operations at Shaker Hill was a dream come true. Unlike other college graduates who wilt at dead-end jobs after graduation, he plunged into a job at Carter’s Grove at Colonial Williamsburg right after earning his master’s degree in history from Eastern Illinois University. While working as an agricultural specialist at The Homeplace in Tennessee, Ward said he was headhunted by Shaker Village in 1994.
When Crossland took over in September 2011, staff expected the normal administrative changes. Within eight months, Crossland began sending out memos mentioning potential direction changes that could increase visitors. The staff waited, but those changes never came, Ward said.
Ward said Crossland ingratiated himself to staffers, paying for bands to play and even for office coffee out of his own pocket. When he and Hughes were fired, they were told staff was being reduced. The next day, an employee Ward had supervised was offered his old job. Even more infuriating was finding their replacements were promoted to directors. "I've been driving workhorses for more than 30 years, then they hire someone without that kind of experience,” Ward said. "That's a safety concern. One week, we had excellent morale, the next, longtime people get canned and morale plummets."
In his heart, Crossland said he hopes the company won't have to make any further cuts, but he can't rule out any further reductions if they come to a place where decisions have to be made. "Whether I have been there or not makes no difference. It feels awful no matter what side of the table you are on."
Even if he were offered another position, Ward said he wouldn't take it. “I don't want my job back,” Ward said. “When I was sitting across the table from him when he fired me, it was like looking at the eyes of the devil, his eyes were so cold. I had chills on the back of my neck.”
Click Here to View the Original Story.
Here is the Shaker Village Home Page. Let them know what you think! http://www.shakervillageky.org/
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