Stalled Pa. Museum Project’s CEO to Stay On but Take Pay Cut

The board of the National Museum of Industrial History said Tuesday that it will not follow a grand jury’s recommendation to fire the troubled Pennsylvania project’s chief executive but that he will take a “substantial” cut in wages, writes the Allentown Morning Call.

Board Chairman L. Charles Marcon said the reduction in CEO Stephen Donches’s $181,000 salary and other cost cuts will keep the Bethlehem, Pa., project on track for up to another year while officials explore ways to kick-start the museum, which was proposed in the 1990s but remains unbuilt despite raising more than $17-million in donations and grants.

A grand jury that investigated the project’s problems concluded last month that there was no criminal wrongdoing but issued a blistering report blaming Mr. Donches in large part for multimillion-dollar waste and mismanagement and the museum board for lax oversight. Mr. Marcon said the board needs the longtime CEO on board as it looks for a partner to help raise $2-million to complete the project, a task he said would be made tougher by the report.