No, I was forming a staff. Even though… All right, not even though. Because I had no managerial, no managerial experience, I was a bad manager. I was, you know, my role model, if you want to call it that, was John Mehrtens. So I was pretty dictatorial. I was,… Read More
The election, the wording on the ballot was, “Do you wish to be taxed to support Riverbanks Zoo?” And it passed by the narrowest of margins. So these four guys took it upon themselves to have a meeting with their counterparts in Richland County. And with the mayor, we were… Read More
And they agreed, this is how we’re gonna fund the zoo, and we’re gonna make it a millage agency. We’re gonna assess local property taxes to fund the zoo’s operating budget. And as I tell people, this was now three years after I’d been director. So for three years I… Read More
We’ve been giving you this money voluntarily, but we’re not gonna keep doing this. And this was the two counties and the city. One of the two counties, Lexington County, had historically been- Remember this is the South. This county had historically been, it was literally the oth- It wasn’t… Read More
And they were the ones putting the most pressure on the zoo, saying, “This isn’t what we do. We don’t fund zoos. You gotta fix this.” Fortunately for us, there was a major shift in state government, where power transferred from the state legislature to local governments. Prior to the… Read More
We’re gonna have county councils and city councils, and we’re gonna have mayors, and they’re gonna do the work of the people. That rural county, Lexington County, held its first election right about the time Mehrtens was fired. And they elected, by single member districts, four young guys who all… Read More
You’re not making enough money to pay salaries, feed the animals, do all that you, keep the lights on. You’re not making enough money. Read More
Where’s that money, where’s the balance gonna come from?… Read More
But I got on the phone with other people and said, “Look, let me tell you what we’re feeding saki monkeys.” And they’d laugh, you know, you gotta be kidding me, you know. So I slashed the food budget probably three-fourths with no impact on animal health or on animal… Read More
And I’m trying to think there was any, oh gosh, I can’t remember. It’s not that important, but a good number of the staff within the year of my becoming director had gone, had moved on. They just, their jobs weren’t needed anymore, mainly because they had been tasked with… Read More
I didn’t terminate anybody. I didn’t eliminate any positions. But that was probably the first time that I had any contact with politicians because I appeared before them to show them how much we had reduced the budget and that we were trying to be fiscally responsible and good stewards… Read More
Who was your senior staff then?… Read More
Well, actually the only true senior staff member was the business manager. Dennis Decoursey was no longer working at the zoo. And a head bird keeper, the head bird keeper was the acting bird curator. There was a, Dow was the maintenance supervisor, and he left soon after. And he… Read More
Clearly spending had to be brought under control. So I got with the business manager and we went over the budget, and based on my experience up to that point, I knew… There was clear we had two issues. We had a bloated staff, and our food budget was off… Read More
And he interviewed them both. The gentleman from, the curator, the general curator said he couldn’t live in the South and he withdrew. And Dr. Schroeder actually offered the job to the gentleman who was also a veterinarian like Dr. Schroeder and was the director of a large Midwestern zoo. Read More
I never had one, he had three. I didn’t want them to type up the resume ’cause I didn’t want, A, I didn’t want them to know I was doing it, and B, I didn’t want to be embarrassed when I didn’t get the job. So I had this lady… Read More
Sort of, yes. Read More
He said, “This is Charles Schroeder.” He said, “You’re not gonna talk about this zoo again.” He said to him, he said, “If you want to continue in this profession, this is it. You’re done talking about Riverbanks Zoo. You need to leave.” And he did, never said another word. Read More
And he had a little, took a piece of 8 by 10 paper, and he put it on landscape and he wrote little grids on it, and he had the names of the people who applied in there, experience and all. He had this little chart. And I stayed out… Read More
He said, “I’ve got some work to do here in the office.” I said, “Good, I gotta go out and check on a few animals or something.” I come back and he hands me a piece of paper, and there was everything he had said the day before, with timelines. Read More