Knott’s Layoff Included 3 Senior Officials : Shake-up: Executive vice president, human resources officer and controller out under major reorganization.

Three top officials were among the more than 20 workers laid off this week as Knott’s Berry Farm began a major reorganization to revitalize America’s oldest theme park, it was learned Thursday.

Executive Vice President James R. Kuhl, Vice President for Human Resources Andy Rich and Controller Charles W. Ward III were gone by the time the dismissals--which ranged from hourly employees to top management--were finished Wednesday, park sources said. Neither of the three could be reached for comment.

It was previously confirmed that Stuart Zanville, spokesman for the theme park and restaurant complex for the past seven years, was also let go.

The layoffs are because of purely economic reasons, and will not have an impact on the public’s enjoyment or safety of the park, said Knott’s Vice President Bill Dayton.

Knott’s Berry Farm, a Buena Park institution since the 1930s, has suffered weak attendance because of the recession, a drop in tourism after last year’s earthquakes and Los Angeles riots and a succession of rainy weekends. The trade weekly Amusement Business listed Knott’s Berry Farm as the seventh most popular theme park in the nation in 1992, down from fifth place the year before. Attendance was estimated at 3.9 million, a figure that park officials have never confirmed or denied.

The layoffs will be followed by plans for a major redirection in the marketing of the park, according to Dayton. Knott’s will distance itself from comparisons with Disneyland in Anaheim and market itself as an alternative.

“From a marketing standpoint, it would be like moving from the ‘70s to the ‘90s in terms of the park’s image,” he said.