Cribb quits post

April 15, 2005

KATE GOLDEN/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - What will happen to the Dorothy Page museum now that the woman in charge is leaving?

Mayor Dianne M. Keller announced Tonya Cribb's imminent departure in her end-of-meeting council report Monday. Cribb submitted her resignation Friday, April 8 from her position as both museum registrar and coordinator of the city's Parks and Recreation Commission.

"Everybody's kind of shook up about Tonya quitting," said LeRoi Heaven, chairman of the board of the Wasilla-Knik Historical Society, who was impressed with her work.

"I think she's done a fantastic job," said her supervisor, Recreation and Cultural Services Director Bruce Urban. He'll start looking for her replacement next week.

Meanwhile, Cribb is preparing part-time museum aide Margaret Rogers to take the reins until more help arrives.

As museum registrar, Cribb secured grant funding, curated the museum, brought new exhibits, preserved artifacts and organized classes, among other duties.

For Parks and Rec, she coordinated events such as the city's Arbor Day celebration and the Christmas-tree lighting ceremony.

Cribb gave no reasons for her resignation. She said she's looking for a job for the summer that will allow her to take advantage of the Mat-Su sunshine.

Council members Diana Straub and Mark Ewing deplored Cribb's departure in their comments that night.

"I think we should not accept Tonya's resignation," Straub said.

A little museum history

Staffing and funding of the museum have changed over the years.

The museum began as a nonprofit in the 1980s, born of and operated by the Wasilla-Knik Historical Society and funded by longtime Wasilla philanthropist V. Louise Kellogg. The society owned the artifacts, while the building itself - Wasilla's community hall during much of the last century - was city property.

In the late 1980s, the society asked the city to get involved. The council, led by then-Mayor John Stein, created a new department covering the museum. The city renovated the building. It encouraged tourist-focused activities and started keeping visitor logs. Four people came on board as city employees.

John Cooper, a professionally trained curator, became the first director.

"It got institutionalized and was humming along there," Stein said.

Cooper's responsibilities eventually expanded to overseeing parks and recreational activities.

But Cooper left just after Sarah Palin took the mayoral reins after her election in 1996. Cooper's directorial position was never replaced by another curator. The number of museum staff dwindled. Priorities shifted, Stein said.

In 2002, the council cut funding to the museum by 36 percent from the previous year: $102,745 to $65,719.

There was no squeeze in the growing city's budget, according to Finance Director Ted Leonard. The change was more about a principle of efficiency.

"They believed that the visitor numbers didn't justify the museum being open the whole year," Leonard said.

From then on, the museum would be open only from April to September. To avoid laying off two people, the council directed that the museum registrar would take on Parks and Recreation coordinating responsibilities in the winter, while the part-time museum aide would also be a part-time library aide.

For the last several years, there has been no full-time position dedicated to museum activities.

From Cribb's point of view, there's an "overwhelming amount of work." In the summer, there is Rogers and June Pardue, curator of education, who conducts classes. In the winter, Cribb typically had 10-12 hours of help from volunteers.

While registrar Cribb secured grants for the museum, she didn't manage the budget. She did, however, participate by writing grants: six in the last two years, totaling $39,410.

The museum budget has grown since the 2002 cuts. In fiscal year 2003, there was no change. But in Keller's first budget of fiscal year 2004, the money allocated for the museum increased by 42 percent, to $85,266. In 2005, funding went up to $114,458, including $14,000 of grant money.

The proposed budget for 2006, subject to approval by the council, increases the museum budget by 60 percent to $140,000. Parks and Recreation and museum services will separate again, as the registrar position becomes full time.

Leonard said the increases in funding and growth of the museum's programs could be attributed to a blend of Cribb's competence and the "new philosophies" that came in with Keller.

The number of paying visitors hasn't increased dramatically, he said, but interest in the museum is growing. Beading classes and other programs, for example, have been well-attended.

Keller was not available for comment Thursday. But Leonard said, "I think she realized that the museum was not just about the number of visitors."

He added: "As the citizens demand more cultural services, then the budget expands."

Contact Kate Golden at

352-2284 or kate.golden@

frontiersman.com.