Longtime Bowers Museum Backer Quits as Board Chief : Dispute: Judy Fluor-Runels says staff failed to honor terms of donation made by her parents and has assumed unwarranted power over donors and trustees.

Judy Fluor-Runels, president of the Bowers Museum Board of Governors and a longtime museum supporter, resigned Tuesday, citing the museum’s failure to honor the terms of a major donation made by her parents.

She also said senior museum staff members (she declined to name individuals) have assumed unwarranted power over donors and trustees during the past year. Museum officials postponed comment pending a press conference scheduled for today.

Fluor-Runels is the second board member to resign in the past few weeks. Parker S. Kennedy, president of First American Title Insurance Co., who has served both as board president and chairman, resigned in February. He was unavailable Tuesday for comment.

According to Fluor-Runels, the museum staff has changed the focus of a permanent exhibition gallery funded by and named for her parents without asking their permission or conferring with her or her fellow board members.

In 1991, former citrus growers Gloria and Si Fluor contributed more than $100,000 to fund the Fluor Family Gallery specifically as a permanent display of materials relating to the citrus industry in Orange County, Fluor-Runels said.

Last month, according to Fluor-Runels, Gloria Fluor received a letter from the museum proposing that she donate another $50,000 to install a “children’s discovery center” in the gallery, and noting that if she didn’t wish to pay for this addition, another donor would be sought and the citrus theme would be reduced to a few token objects in the gallery.

“First the citrus gallery was going to be downstairs,” Fluor-Runels said. “Then, after the donation, it was mysteriously moved upstairs. Then it became Orange County history and little bit of citrus (history). Now, it’s ‘Give us $50,000 because we want a children’s learning center.’ ”

Fluor-Runels, who has been associated with the Bowers Museum for 14 years and whose one-year term as president began in June, said she has had no communication with the staff for last six months. At exhibition openings, she added, top level staff have pointedly ignored her.

“I started asking some hard questions about finances (because) I thought we were spending a lot of money,” she said, declining to specify the precise nature of her inquiries. “When you start asking questions, you’re singled out (by staff) as a troublemaker.”

She said she is also troubled by changes in the bylaws instituted by museum director Peter Keller, who came to the museum two years ago.

In one staff-proposed ruling, the frequency of board meetings has been changed from monthly to every other month, ostensibly for the convenience of members who live far from Santa Ana. Another new bylaw specifies that board members not speak to members of the staff unless the director is present or knows the subject of the conversation.

Fluor-Runels said Keller told the board that this practice is in line with the guidelines set forth in “Museum Ethics,” a publication of the American Assn. of Museums. The book advises that trustees should “avoid giving directions to . . . communicating directly with or soliciting administrative information from staff personnel, unless . . . the director is apprised.”

“We hired the staff; the staff works for us,” Fluor-Runels said. “But I feel that I work for them. They come in and make these recommendations, and the board votes everything in without thinking of the consequences. . . . I believe museum staff should work within policies set by the board.

“It used to be a real hands-on board. We were in on the decision making. Now the board has gotten very large and (staff) gives the board just the minimal information. (Board members) come for lunch and it’s a jolly time and everybody shakes hands and off they go.

“There are a lot of people who have supported the museum for a long time, and they’re being slowly aced out (by staff members). I realize the museum is changing and growing, and I welcome that, but I don’t think you should forget the people who have stayed through good times and bad times.”

Just before announcing her resignation at a board meeting Tuesday, Fluor-Runels appointed a committee to look into the museum’s donation policies which, she says, are not clearly defined.

“I don’t want another situation like this happening” to potential donors, she said.

Longtime board member Donna Karlen said she and the other governors were “very surprised” to hear of Fluor-Runels’ resignation.