Please read this article which was published in the New Bedford Standard-Times on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009
Ernestina takes another hit
BECKY W. EVANS
October 17, 2009 12:00 AM
The partially restored Schooner Ernestina is once again navigating stormy seas after the state Department of Conservation and Recreation laid off the ship’s executive director and accountant.
The agency, which is facing a shrinking budget, this week announced staff layoffs totaling 37 people, among them Paul Brawley, executive director of the 115-year-old schooner, and Annie McDowell, the ship’s accountant.
Schooner supporters fear the loss of leadership will undermine progress made in recent years to restore the ship to sailing condition. In May, the vessel returned to port after undergoing more than $1 million in hull restoration work at the Boothbay Harbor Shipyard in Maine. (Further repairs are required before the vessel can receive Coast Guard certification for sailing. The ship has not sailed since 2004.)
“I understand that the state budget is what the state budget is right now. It is unfortunate, but it is also important that the investment that has been made in the ship so far isn’t allowed to waste away,” said Mary Anne McQuillan, president of the Schooner Ernestina-Morrissey Association, a newly formed fundraising group.
McQuillan said old wooden vessels require at least a couple of full-time staff to maintain them.
“One thing we can’t afford is to lose any slippage on the integrity of the ship,” she said.
This week’s Department of Conservation and Recreation layoffs, which follow the elimination of 80 positions by attrition and 54 positions through a voluntary layoff program, reflect the agency’s slimming budget, said DCR commissioner Richard Sullivan.
“We started fiscal 2009 with a budget just under $102 million, and the current budget we have to work with is $87 million,” he said.
“We are clearly having to manage our budgets and make some very difficult decisions.”
One of those decisions is eliminating both the Ernestina’s $68,700 executive director position and the $47,700 accountant position. Sullivan said the agency preserved the ship’s full-time carpenter position because “we are committed to maintaining the schooner.”
The carpenter provides routine maintenance for the ship, said DCR spokeswoman Wendy Fox. She did not know the salary for the position.
While the state is committed to maintaining the Ernestina, Sullivan said it is unclear what type of programming the Department of Conservation and Recreation will offer in 2010, such as whether visitors may board the vessel.
“We are working with the full commission to look at partnership possibilities or some other creative partnership that would allow us to continue services of the executive director in some capacity,” he said.
The Schooner Ernestina Commission is a nine-member governing body tasked with preserving, restoring and operating the historic vessel. The schooner, which has operated as a Grand Banks fishing schooner, an Arctic explorer and a trans-Atlantic packet ship, was presented as a gift in 1982 from the Republic of Cape Verde to the people of the United States, with the state of Massachusetts as its steward.
State Sen. Mark C.W. Montigny, D-New Bedford, praised Brawley and McDowell for being both “passionate” and “extraordinarily capable” in their work with the Ernestina.
While he said he was sad to hear about the layoffs, Montigny said he was not surprised given the “irresponsible spending” habits of the state and federal government.
“What people have got to realize is this is not an Ernestina or a DCR problem,” he said. “Layoffs are going to be massive across all areas of the government bureaucracy. The public can’t pay more.”
Brawley, a Navy lieutenant who was appointed executive director of the Ernestina in July 2007, said he understood that, in light of tightening state budgets, “tough choices have to be made.”
He said he was proud of the work he and the Department of Conservation and Recreation accomplished during his tenure, including the $1.1 million hull restoration and historic documentation of the vessel.
“I think there are an awful lot of people who care a great deal about the ship,” he said. “It is time for people to pull together for the ship’s sake, and not to be angry but to be realistic about what the state economy is right now.”
The commission is scheduled to meet Oct. 23.
McQuillan said she hopes to learn more about the Ernestina’s fate at the meeting.
“I don’t know what kind of budget they have and what resources they have to devote to the ship right now,” she said. “That is the scary part. I am sure within the next week or so we will have a better picture.”
