WOW exacts another round of layoffs, delays reopening

About two months ago, construction began on a $14 million expansion and renovation project that will double the museum’s size to about 200,000 square feet and connect to the neighboring Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World. The project was expected to last about six months, but the original timeline has nearly tripled.

The expansion was originally timed to coincide with the museum’s slow period – December, January and February – before the peak summer season, which typically brings the most visitors in July.

Peggy Smith, the museum’s acting executive director and chief financial officer, attributed project delays to mechanical pump and air-handling systems that will be repaired and replaced for improved efficiency. A walk-through shark tank and a 40-foot stingray dome are among the new features planned for the museum.

“These are very sophisticated mechanical systems that operate these large aquariums,” Smith said.

Smith said problems with the mechanical systems were encountered during demolition after the museum closed Dec. 2, but the topic was apparently discussed at the board’s November meeting.

Gary Ellison, a public relations and marketing consultant whose contract with WOW was not renewed in January, said he remembers the museum’s director of operations apprising board members about the needed mechanical upgrades at the November meeting. Board member Roseann Bentley also recalled the discussion taking place prior to the start of demolition work.

In addition to the equipment-related delays, Smith said executive committee members and the museum’s senior management team – now down to four employees from nine – are revisiting the project design to determine how exhibits might be tweaked to increase visitor interest. She said budgets were being revised to recalculate the project’s cost. Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. is the project architect, and DeWitt & Associates is the general contractor.

The committee’s decision to significantly push back the reopening date prompted the museum’s second round of layoffs since November, when eight full-time and 19 part-time employees lost their jobs. Last week, eight salaried employees as well as 11 part- and full-time ones were laid off for a total of 38.

“I wouldn’t say the staff members were on notice necessarily,” Smith said. “Obviously, decisions like that don’t just start at a meeting and end at a meeting like that. There are things that lead up to the need to take those kinds of actions.”

Five members of WOW’s management team lost their jobs in the latest round of cuts, but attempts to reach some of them for comment were unsuccessful. Only Smith, Finance Manager Michele Winslow, Curator of Animals Rich Collister and Director of Conservation Programs Misty Mitchell remain.

Ellison said the WOW employees who lost their jobs last week were “crushed.”

All of the fish and animals on exhibit have been moved to temporary locations. Most of the conservation and education programs will continue through the renovation.

Members of the museum’s executive committee are Max Peterson, the former executive vice president of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies; Jim Hagale, president of Bass Pro Shops; Ken Burroughs, president of Bass Pro-owned Tracker Marine Group; Susie Henry, sister of Bass Pro founder Johnny Morris; Jerry Presley, former director of the Missouri Department of Conservation; Andy Dalton, who recently retired from City Utilities of Springfield; and Lee Gannaway, a Springfield attorney and former mayor.

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