In terms of budget, Les would come back from the park district and would say, okay, this year, the park district has said that we need to have our budget cut by 10% or by 15% or 18%, whatever it was. And that the categories are essentially the same. Take… Read More
How should we do it?… Read More
What kind of exhibits are we going to have?… Read More
What kind of species are we going to show?… Read More
There was essentially, for capital improvements, there essentially was a master plan in place. And that was to the best of our ability and financial responsibility and with the resources we had was to improve how the living conditions for the animals of the facilities and the interpretation of the… Read More
That pretty much was, you know, there was, there wasn’t a formal master plan on paper, but they were pretty much was what should the next project be?… Read More
What areas should we do next?… Read More
Was it at the level of use in the executive director, or was it things that you were told to do and you interacted with the zoo society?… Read More
I was in my interactions with the zoo society, I was pretty much guided on where I was to go, not so much what I was to do, but what the boundaries were, what the limits were, who I was to help and how I was to help them in… Read More
Now as assistant director, did your role change in your participation in the budget process and setting priorities or in identifying new capital issues?… Read More
Or was there already this, I’ll say master plan, for lack of a better word, that was in place?… Read More
When you first assumed the title of assistant director, was there any big concern looming that you had when you started the new position?… Read More
I don’t think in assuming the position of assistant director, I never gave it a second thought. I just thought it was a logical evolution of where I had been, where I’d come from, that I could use the skills that I had and just move on. I don’t think… Read More
One of that being with the zoo society, how did you specifically have to interact with them?… Read More
I’m not sorry I did it. I’m very pleased with the accomplishments that were made during my time on the AZA board and during that presidency. Read More
And then we’ll talk more about that, but did you feel that that, were you still collegial though, in your day-to-day and things you had to do as a system director?… Read More
Oh, on a day-to-day basis, despite our differences, sometimes of opinion, we were, we had a job to do, we had a zoo to operate. We have funds to raise, we had programs to give, we had animals to manage, we had people to hire. Yes, we were, there were… Read More
And it usually was something that was not, it had nothing to do with anything that you thought that you were guilty of, it usually came from left field, and I never quite understood that relationship. For instance, one of the things that he was absolutely nutcase about was renewal… Read More
Did you still have the freedom that the other assistant directors before you had in the purchasing and the disposition of animals at the zoo?… Read More
Yes, I had all of the freedoms of the previous administration. The freedom that was a little questionable from time to time was that during the same time that I was assistant director, I was very active in the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. And he had been one of… Read More