Felz to Direct Two Facilities

In an effort to keep municipal expenditures down, Fullerton Museum Center director Joe Felz will assume the additional duties of managing the city’s Muckenthaler Cultural Center. Muckenthaler director Judith Peterson has been given a new job, overseeing recruitment and training of volunteers to work in every city department.

“The city is downsizing and reducing costs,” said Susan Hunt, Fullerton’s director of community services. The budget for Hunt’s department, which includes the Museum Center and the Muckenthaler, was cut by about $200,000 in July.

City support of the Muckenthaler has been decreasing in recent years as efforts toward eventual privatization of the facility continue. A private, nonprofit Muckenthaler Cultural Center Foundation would assume financial responsibility and management, alleviating Felz of many of his new duties there.

The Muckenthaler’s schedule of five exhibits a year would not change, according to Hunt, who said she expects the City Council to vote on the privatization by October.