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"The Master Plan is a blueprint to our future and the Strategic Plan will get us there" said Jim Rapp, Director of the Salisbury Zoo.
Our Mission is to be a "quality of life facility." OK, to who? The animals or the people visiting the Zoo? If it's the animals, your plan ain't working!
We want to maintain a FREE community education/communication recreation resource. We're having problems with fundraising and we need to work on that better. 1/3 of the Zoo is in a flood plane zone and that creates numerous problems. WRONG! The Salisbury Zoo is not 1/3 in a flood plane zone Jim Rapp, it's 100% in a flood plane zone! I've personally seen the documents showing of such and Hadley produced those documents many, many months ago, so you're lying!
Because Jim Rapp refuses to do what all Directors of any other Zoo in America is responsible for, (raising funds) they are requesting once again two choices. One, a full time Development Director, OR a fundraising company consulting firm to raise funds. What they didn't tell the Council was that an outside firm will demand 35 to 40% of anything and everything they raise! This was stated by Jim Rapp and Ron Alessi as a fact in one of their Zoo Commission Meetings I attended with other witnesses as well.
The Master Plan they are talking about will cost around $36,000,000.00 in today's money. This means they would have to raise some $60,000,000.00 from the citizens and businesses to end up with the $36,000,000.00 to fund the entire project. 40% of what they raise will be blown on this outsource company. Please don't forget what it's going to cost to maintain such a facility once it's built too.
Now you tell me folks, does the Zoo need to be relocated, or what? If you're going to spend this kind of money on a 12 acre Zoo with next to no parking, well, you're nuts! Oh, did I mention they want to keep it a FREE Zoo? And this guy Ron Alessi wants to be the County Executive????? It's no wonder he's walked away from paying the people he owes. I think you guys Strategically Mastered a Plan all right!
Oh, one more thing Rapp mentioned. Although they already have a Marketing person Mary Seamen, she's real busy running the Gift Shop and they need to hire another Marketing Manager as well. XXXOOO
You see iyeska, here's how it works.
ReplyDeleteJim Rapp goes into these Council Meetings and Work Sessions asking for everything. Not that they should get anything, the point is to ask. Ask for everything you can think of, like Cushman's to ride around the Zoo in. You see, he got the money to buy two of them 2 years ago, yet they're NOWHERE to be found!
Typical Local Government practice is to ask for a ton of stuff so that when you settle it doesn't look so bad. However, was it necessary in the first place? NO! Jim Rapp should be getting off his rear end and raising money, PERIOD! That's what Directors of Zoo's do and that's what's expected from them, period!
Mary Seamen, come on now! She's a novice wanna be marketing person who really hasn't done much of anything since she got there. Hence to lack of donations towards the Sponsorship Board being 50% empty. This is her job, this is her responsibility and she's failing. She does what she's told and of course the Zoo Commission pats anyone and everyone on the back for "anything" they do and they never think twice about the fact that this is what these people are paid to do daily. It's their JOB!
The Zoo needs to stand on its own, 100%. No more money and funds from the Taxpayers, period! Jim Rapp is raping the public by allowing unbelievable amounts of animals to die at this Zoo and do absolutely nothing about it. The taxpayers continue to purchase "replacement inventory" on a weekly basis to make it look like things are going just fine.
If the Council passes hiring two more people at the Zoo then they are just as crooked as Jim Rapp is with his inventory figures and also having nothing to do with the illegal pipes that were dumping raw sewage into the river. By the way, once again, where's the Cushman's?
The Hazel Family donated $50,000.00 just for the artwork plans for the Master Plan.
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