EMM Site Administrator Jim Hall: In His Own Words

by Katie Z.

Articles | PHMC Leadership

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July 15, 2024

A Fact Check on Site Administrator Jim Hall’s comments as recorded in “Ryan Cook’s Meeting Notes” (a document first shared in “Shipwrecked by Command!”)

In August 2021, Erie Maritime Museum Site Administrator Jim Hall sat down with Niagara Volunteer Council (NVC) president Ryan Cook and spent 2.5 hours delivering a monologue. Cook’s scheduled meeting was with Educator and Volunteer Coordinator Chuck Johnson, but Hall decided to join. Hall’s behavior was so shocking and offensive that Cook felt he needed to record what happened in these meeting notes.

This fact check is designed to give you a sense of Jim Hall’s behavior and inaccuracies without the extensive and detailed backstory. (In future we may release the full-length, in-depth version, but it’s a bit overwhelming for the average person to handle.) This review contains excerpts from Cook’s notes and quick fact checks, without getting bogged down in details, stories, and examples. There’s a lot to take in, but that’s because a lot has happened. And it’s all pretty shocking. The farther into the meeting you go, the more absurd Hall’s statements become.

PHMC claims that Niagara will be in good hands as soon as they hire a Captain. However, the person that Captain will report to is Erie Maritime Museum (EMM) Site Administrator Jim Hall. Is Jim Hall up to the job? Is he responsible enough to make good decisions for the ship, crew, and community?

On the blog Protect Brig Niagara, we share documents from our Right to Know Requests and personal experiences because it is up to the public to decide these questions for themselves. After seeing Jim Hall’s behavior in these meeting notes, I invite you to ask yourself, “Do you feel confident in Hall’s ability to manage the U.S. Brig Niagara?” If EMM creates a new nonprofit associate group to partner with, Jim Hall will be in charge of them. PHMC’s boilerplate associate agreement sets the Site Administrator up as final arbiter of everything. After reading this, I hope you reflect on how you feel about that situation, and whether you feel Niagara is in good hands.

Cook’s original meeting notes are in blue text. Cook’s goal was to record the meeting as fairly and accurately as possible, without his own comments or editorial notes. The grey text is contributed by me as author of this blog post, to provide context, background, and my interpretations and perspectives. When this meeting took place, I was the Flagship Niagara League’s bookkeeper, the shipkeeper for Lettie G. Howard (I lived on site), and during the few months of reopening the museum after covid lockdown (March – September 2021) I was also the interim museum store manager until we could hire staff for that role. I had first or second-hand knowledge of most of the events described here. I have a masters degree in nonprofit management from Carnegie Mellon University and over a decade of experience working for nonprofits (plus additional experience with for-profit and government work). In addition, there are others who can attest to, verify, and support the claims and perspectives I present here. I encourage you to learn more about the volunteer experience under Site Administrator Jim Hall in Protect Brig Niagara’s blog post “Shipwrecked by Command!”.  Click here to read Cook’s notes in their entirely, without my comments.

A special thank you to Ryan Cook for giving us permission to share his record of this August 2021 meeting with Erie Maritime Museum Site Administrator Jim Hall. Cook is a good leader, a calm and thoughtful presence, someone who looks for solutions, is passionate about maritime history, and cares deeply about the ships and the volunteer community. We’re lucky to have him in Erie.

Fact Checking: Excerpts from Ryan Cook’s Notes on Meeting with Jim Hall 8/24/21

The meeting began with me saying that I was there because the Museum docent program was in crisis and that it should never have gotten to the point where I had to come in to have a meeting about it.

At this point James Hall stopped me and informed me that I was under the misapprehension that I had any standing to effect change at the EMM. He explained that the Niagara Volunteer Council (he actually called the NVC the “Niagara Volunteer Council or Coalition” throughout the entire meeting, despite being repeatedly told the name was the Niagara Volunteer Council) was not a real organization, that it had no standing, that it was harmful to the EMM because it provided a place for volunteers to talk and share their concerns. He further stated that the only venue for volunteer concerns were Mr. Hall and Mr. Johnson, and anything else was pointless, harmful, and unnecessary.

Wow. Hall sure packed a lot in to that first volley.

  • Free assembly and discussion is a protected civil liberty.
  • PHMC’s own staff is unionized and allowed to speak collectively (this includes the Erie Maritime Museums’s non-management staff like the Educator/Volunteer Coordinator Chuck Johnson, and Clerk/Typist Natalie Ditzler).
  • PHMC has taken this same isolation approach with their associate groups. There used to be a forum for associate groups to discuss, share, and collaborate, but PHMC killed it years ago. Here we see Jim Hall trying to isolate volunteers in a way that prevents them from discussing their displeasures. This creates a situation where they are silent and powerless.
  • If no one ever speaks up, then nothing changes.
  • People did bring up their issues individually to Jim Hall and Chuck Johnson, and didn’t feel satisfied with the result. This meeting was an attempt to elevate their concerns because people felt ignored when they spoke to Hall and Johnson individually.
  • Cook went directly up the chain of command and arranged to meet with the Volunteer Coordinator Chuck Johnson (not to Site Administrator Jim Hall). That’s what you do when you’re having a problem at work. You speak to your supervisor to straighten it out. Jim Hall was the one who ratcheted it up to the 2.5-hour tirade you’re about to see.
  • No standing? Shouldn’t all citizens have at least the potential to effect change within our government? Shouldn’t all volunteers have that theoretical potential within an organization they work with? We all want to believe that our voices matter.
  • When Jim Hall says Ryan Cook has no “standing” it has nothing to do with the legal definition. What he’s really saying is “I refuse to listen to you,” “You have no power, because I said so,” and, “You have no rights.” Is that the type of behavior we expect from a state employee towards their volunteers?
  • At PHMC’s demand, the volunteer program had been removed from FNL’s management the previous winter, and Chuck Johnson had been running it for months including attending NVC meetings. So even though Jim Hall claims it’s not a “real organization,” Chuck Johnson had meetings with them. That suggests their activities are somewhat sanctioned by PHMC and not “illegitimate” as he will later state.

He stated that only he and Chuck actually knew what was going on and that NVC was spreading lies that made his job more difficult.

According to Jim Hall, anyone who disagrees with his version of things is spreading lies. Apparently the experiences of volunteers and the associate group staff (Flagship Niagara League – FNL) are not valid. As you will see, much of what Jim Hall says in this meeting is untrue and very easily disproven. His assertion that other people are spreading lies will become more and more absurd as these notes continue.

  • Jim Hall makes himself the final arbiter of everything, and refuses to acknowledge when he is corrected for false information. (Please see the opening statement where he refuses to even acknowledge the correction on the group’s name.)
  • He makes up rules and regulations off the cuff, and when you point out that the items being discussed are not in PHMC’s regulations or not defined in a contract he blusters, gets theatrical, and tries to distract and escape from the issue.
  • His management style is “my way or the highway.”

FNL had no standing or authority to have Niagara volunteers.

Volunteer management was not spelled out as an official duty in the Flagship Niagara League’s (FNL’s) 10-year contract (begun when the state could no longer afford Niagara’s operations in 2009). However, previous EMM Site Administrator Walter Rybka relied on FNL for much of the volunteer management at the site. He worked with FNL for 30 years, and with only himself and one other PHMC staff person to run the entire museum and ship complex, Rybka made use of the resources available to him to get the job done (i.e. FNL). PHMC seems to want to rewrite history and claim FNL “took over” but they never took on any roles that Rybka (PHMC’s own representative) didn’t ask them to do. And of course, since the ship’s hired crew were all FNL staff, any volunteers working on the ship were automatically under the daily direct supervision of FNL. When PHMC gives you a contract to do that work, it’s not “taking over.”

FNL was a “friends” organization whose sole and exclusive purpose was to support the needs of the EMM.

Blatantly false statement.

  • The name is Flagship Niagara League, not Friends of Erie Maritime Museum.
  • The 1982 articles of incorporation clearly state FNL’s focus is on the ship (a full 16 years before the museum opened in 1998).
  • One of FNL’s two 10-year contracts with PHMC was for management and operation of Niagara (the other was as associate group supporting the ship and museum). Therefore, the vast majority of FNL’s annual budget and activity was spent on Niagara.
  • FNL was set up as a “friends group” for the ship, and later added support for the museum. But, FNL was set up an independent, fully incorporated 501(c)3 organization. That means, legally, if FNL was going to change their primary focus from supporting Niagara to supporting the Maritime Museum, it has to occur because the FNL board members vote to do so and formally change it in their IRS documents (not because PHMC declares it must be so). PHMC can have a conversation and negotiate with their partner about their goals and vision, and how they would like to see the associate group support that new direction, but they don’t get to command. That would remove the independence required of this type of relationship by the IRS.
  • Jim Hall regularly demonstrates that he doesn’t understand this legal distinction between the organizations and tries to treat everyone at FNL as if they are his direct employees and he has full control over them.

He explained that the FNL’s contract with the PHMC had lapsed and not been renewed because the FNL was refusing to agree to the PHMC contract.

This is perhaps Jim Hall’s only truthful statement during the entire meeting, but delivered without context. FNL had two simultaneous 10-year agreements with PHMC – an associate agreement (aka, a “friends group”) and a management agreement to operate the ship (aka, a service contract – like an independent contractor agreement, but covering ongoing, broad responsibilities). In January 2021 PHMC delivered a contract that combined them into one agreement and put Site Administrator Jim Hall (who has zero maritime experience) in charge of all ship-related decisions, as well as requiring his approval for FNL’s hiring and firing decisions. The FNL board felt this agreement created too much risk, so FNL suggested changes to the agreement. At that point, PHMC ceased all negotiations. They were only brought back to the negotiating table by state legislators almost a full year later, in January 2022.

He said that I was an agent of the FNL and that the FNL had gone to court and that there were no negotiations happening because the FNL’s only choices were to sign the contract as presented or to dissolve itself.

  • Cook represents the volunteers. FNL did not send him, or influence, or even discuss Cook’s choice to have this meeting about volunteer concerns.
  • Court? Patently false. There are lawyers involved, yes. But that’s because a contract is being negotiated. I wish FNL had taken PHMC to court, but alas, the board was very uninterested in controversy and wanted to smooth things out so the relationship could continue. FNL worked very hard to keep negotiating. I can’t even imagine them suggesting out loud that court was a possibility – that’s how much restraint they showed and commitment to finding a solution, even under these extremely trying circumstances. So Jim Hall is either misinformed, confused, or has convinced himself of something blatantly untrue which he now repeats to people (even after being told that it’s incorrect).
  • Sign or dissolve. My way or the highway. PHMC presented the same arrangement to all the other associate groups. From what I’ve heard they were all quite upset with the agreement, but FNL was the only one who had the resources and will power to say no to what was offered and attempt to negotiate. As seen in the previous section, PHMC refused to negotiate for over a year until legislators dragged them to the table. FNL ended up with one temporary agreement in late 2022 that lasted only a few months (PHMC officially terminated it so that it would not continue as a tacit agreement, the way the previous 10-year contract had). FNL had to operate completely on their own for months, without any sort of legal protections, until PHMC finally pushed them into a terrible contractor arrangement that didn’t even get signed until July 2023 and which hamstrung FNL’s ability to earn income of any sort. That terrible contractor agreement is what PHMC terminated on December 12, 2023 by announcing it would not be renewed on January 1, 2024. Please note: PHMC did not announce that decision until after FNL brought Niagara back from the Coast Guard’s mandatory shipyard in late 2023, even though there is evidence in our Right to Know Request documents suggesting that PHMC had intended this since June 2023. Sign or dissolve.

I believe it was during this explanation that Mr. Hall suggested that I should not get involved in what was going on between PHMC and the FNL, and I would regret it if I did. (I was shocked by being threatened, but unfortunately I do not recall the exact words used. I did tell Mr. Hall that he had essentially told me to “check myself before I wreck myself” (my words to him to describe what he had told me later in the discussion and he did not dispute it.)

Veiled threats to a volunteer? Interesting management choice.

I … asked if the new policies were worth the loss of volunteers. This segued into the amount of time Mr. Hall and Mr. Johnson had spent working the museum floor to keep the EMM open three days a week and how they couldn’t keep doing that, which was why Mr. Hall went to two days a week. I asked if the loss of volunteers had anything to do with that and he said it did not and he needed to hire four part-time staff to be docents in order to open the museum (either five or six days a week as I recall) more. He then said the FNL had recently held a fundraiser as part of Erie Gives in which they raised approximately $40,000 and that this money would be enough to hire these part-time docents. He said he had approached the FNL with this proposal but they had thus far refused.

  • A lot of Hall and Johnson’s time from April – mid-July 2021 was spent at their Admissions counter. FNL was supposed to run Admissions, but PHMC installed a new ticketing system across all their historic sites, which was not ready in time for reopening. It was so buggy FNL couldn’t take over Admissions duties for 2.5 months and the three museum staff had to split duties sitting at the Admissions desk anytime the museum was open. PHMC planning and management…
  • Jim Hall claims to have enough docents. So why are he and Johnson spending time out on the floor? What are they doing?
  • If they can’t be open more days because they are spending staff time on the floor, but the number of docents doesn’t affect their time spent on the floor, then how would paid docents suddenly allow them to be open more days per week? There is no logic here.
  • It is no coincidence that Jim Hall requires the same amount of money that FNL just raised. Hall very clearly tells Cook that he wants that specific money that FNL just raised, to be used for his museum needs. Forget about whatever plans FNL had for those funds, whatever was in FNL’s budget (it’s an annual appeal, so FNL would have projected that income and made plans for its use a year in advance), or whatever promises had been made to donors about how their donations would be used (aka, restricted funds)… Jim Hall seems to want to treat FNL as a piggy bank – to take what he wants, when he wants it. As he said earlier: he believes FNL’s “sole and exclusive purpose was to support the needs of the EMM.”
  • Jim Hall never asked for those funds again. Nor did he seek other ways to fund paid docent positions. This suggests he was shooting from the hip and didn’t actually have a plan or a need for this staffing solution.
  • Best practices for friends groups (like FNL) say fundraising contributions made to primary groups (like PHMC) should be for finite one-off needs, like capital investments, the creation of a new program, or acquisition of an asset. Ongoing expenses for basic operations like staffing, rent, utilities, etc. should be covered by the primary organization because a lack of funding stability from the friends group could disrupt the primary organization’s very existence.

The last section of their meeting appears to have been a rapid-fire stream of accusations and claims made by Jim Hall. Cook recorded them as bullet points.

Mr. Hall then explained his problems with the FNL. He stated:

  • that the FNL abandoned the EMM overnight without telling him despite him wanting the FNL to stay at the museum,
    • False. It was not overnight, and a portion of the FNL staff stayed at the museum. The negotiations on possible workstation reconfigurations occurred over months, with much discussion between the parties. Space for FNL’s intended sailing staff remained based in the museum (two Captains, two chief mates, a shipwright, two cooks, the store manager, and the one, single, nice office was reserved for onsite meetings). Only FNL’s administrative staff moved offsite.
  • that there were empty offices at the EMM and plenty of space for the FNL to operate there,
    • False. FNL needed thirteen desks (eight for office staff, plus five for anticipated sailing staff, and a space that would accommodate meetings; the store manager and two cooks were also at the museum but use alternative work areas). PHMC eliminated seven FNL workstations, leaving only seven desks available (while FNL needed thirteen). In addition, only one of those remaining seven work stations was private. After eliminating seven FNL work stations, the museum had nowhere near enough space for all of FNL’s staff.
  • that the meeting I was having with him was more time than he had spent with FNL director Billy Sabatini in the entire time since he had been hired,
    • Absurdly false. Various Right to Know Request documents confirm that Billy Sabatini and Jim Hall had regular meetings throughout the winter and spring of 2021. After the chaos of PHMC canceling Niagara’s sailing season in late April, the regular weekly meetings appear to have ceased. But Sabatini was onsite almost daily as interim Captain of the Lettie G. Howard, and Hall had regular access to Sabatini if he chose it. By mid-June weekly meetings had resumed, this time with multiple layers of PHMC leadership involved. It is easy to disprove Jim Hall’s assertion that this meeting was longer than the time he had spent with Sabatini. The man takes hyperbole to a new level.
  • that this was because Mr. Sabatini was deliberately avoiding him and his invitation to meet, instead opting to go to court and lie to everyone to try and make Mr. Hall and the PHMC look bad and the FNL and Mr. Sabatini look good, Just – Wow.
    • This is an example of Jim Hall accusing someone else of the very thing he himself is doing. Hall never sent Sabatini invitations to meet. Sometimes, when I was interim store manager, Jim Hall would ask me to make some policy change and I’d tell him he’ll have to discuss that type of request with my Executive Director, but he still did not reach out to Sabatini. Nor did he call or text him with questions or comments. Billy Sabatini was onsite almost daily. If anyone was deliberately avoiding direct interactions, it was Jim Hall.
    • As I stated earlier, FNL did not go to court. A flatly incorrect, absurd, and easily disproved statement.
    • Lying to make PHMC look bad and Sabatini look good? If you’ve been paying attention here, the only one tossing around untruthful statements appears to be Jim Hall. And he seems to be doing a pretty fine job of making PHMC look bad on his own, without help from anyone else. He seems to have a persecution complex and thinks everyone is being mean to him.
  • that the FNL wanted things to go back to the way that they were before with the FNL running most things because the previous Site Administrator was lax,
    • FNL performed many functions at the Erie Maritime Museum because the previous Site Administrator was one of only two PHMC staff at the site. He delegated responsibilities to FNL in order to get things done. That is not the same as being “lax” or FNL “running” things.
    • FNL did not specifically want things in an “old way.” However, if PHMC wanted things to be different than they had been, they needed to communicate and negotiate for that change. Just because something is old or new doesn’t make either inherently good or bad. Ideas should be implemented based on their merit. And partners need to communicate, with clarity and mutual respect.
  • that he had disbursed around a million dollars to the FNL, that the Niagara was not operating and he had not gotten a single receipt from the FNL to account for where that money was going,
    • Complete fiction. Bananas. Flagrant disregard for reality and lack of understanding of basic accounting principles.
    • FNL received $350,000 annually from PHMC towards Niagara’s maintenance. PHMC reviews the anticipated budget each fall as part of sailing plan approvals. And at the end of the fiscal year, each associate group completes PHMC’s standardized financial reports. PHMC’s financial reporting requirements were fulfilled. If Jim Hall wanted more information than that, all he had to do was ask for it. I was the bookkeeper, and I lived on site. I saw him regularly. He asked me for plenty of other things on a regular basis, but he never asked for such an accounting of expenses.
    • Conversations begun in January 2020 (11 months before Jim Hall was hired) resulted in a reimbursable Keystone Grant of up to $400,000. The reimbursement process requires detailed, itemized receipts for every penny spent before it can be reimbursed. At the time, these went to Hall’s supervisor (not to Hall himself). I know, because I sent them.
    • That’s only $750,000. What’s the other $250,000? We had no idea. Did he pull $1 Million out of thin air? Was he just “rounding up?” More extreme hyperbole?
    • Eventually, Jim Hall told someone the $250,000 was in-kind contributions (rent, utilities, etc.). That’s beyond absurd. First off, PHMC may have spent that towards the ship, but FNL never received a “distribution” that we’d need to account for. So that part of the statement is completely false. PHMC pays their own vendors directly for those expenses, and Hall did not provide any copies of receipts to FNL to be recorded as in-kind expenses. Second, FNL’s annual audited statements say that the value of the state’s contribution for those in-kind items is impossible to value, so calculating them is not even attempted. To my knowledge, this has been the case since the ship came into FNL’s management in 2009.
    • Jim Hall in no way, shape, or form distributed $1 million to FNL, as he claimed more than once in this meeting.
  • that Mr. Sabatini was spreading lies and Mr. Hall (repeatedly) said he wondered where that money was going because the Niagara didn’t need much money tied up at dock (there was an implication in Mr. Hall’s statements that Mr. Sabatini was embezzling that money, though this was not outright stated), 
    • Jim Hall accuses Billy Sabatini of spreading lies, then repeatedly insinuates to a volunteer that Sabatini is embezzling money? That money was easily accounted for using PHMC’s own established processes. Hall didn’t put the work in to track it, nor did he bother asking FNL for the information. So, who’s the one spreading lies here?
    • Cook is not the only person to whom Jim Hall insinuated that Sabatini was embezzling money. It would be outrageous enough if Hall had done it once and was corrected, but he did it to several people.
    • It’s essential to note that Jim Hall never brought these concerns up to anyone with any capability of disproving them, like FNL staff or board. He only said it to people low in the hierarchy who had no ability to refute his claims.
    • If he truly was concerned, don’t you think he should have brought these questions to the people who could have either provided the missing information, or investigated and fixed the error/omission? Like the FNL board president? If FNL had really behaved improperly, don’t you think he’d want to find out for sure and hold FNL accountable?
    • It is egregious and absurd that Jim Hall made these unfounded accusations in the first place. And even worse that he did it repeatedly, to multiple people. If he truly believed there was wrongdoing occurring, and he did nothing to investigate or stop it other than insinuate it to a few volunteers and the store manager, that would be extreme negligence on his part. In either case, there is no way that Hall’s behavior can be considered anything other than egregious and outrageous.
    • As for the money in question, even though Niagara wasn’t sailing in 2021, she still had a Captain and shipwright with salaries to pay, large amounts of liability insurance to maintain, and she needed to prepare for a transit to shipyard (which is very close to preparing her for a full sailing season anyway – everything except rigging the sails). In addition, sitting at the dock for two seasons without sailing led to large amounts of rot in the hull planks facing the dock, resulting in shipyard cost overruns of $100,000 that FNL had to cover itself. During this period, FNL also continued hosting virtual educational sail training programs for Niagara, and maintained marketing and communications efforts for the ship and museum. FNL spent well above $350,000 on ship-related management and operations that year.
  • that the FNL had no legal standing outside of the PHMC and it had no chance of winning in court and that there’s “going to be a reckoning” for the FNL,
    • False, false, and false.
    • No legal standing: FNL is an independent, incorporated 501(c)3 nonprofit. Their charter and mission was tied to supporting the U.S. Brig Niagara, but as an independent, fully incorporated nonprofit, the board has the ability to change that at any time, as long as it continues to follow the rules for charitable organizations under IRS code. The FNL board has control over that, not PHMC. In fact, IRS rules require adequate independence and separation between partnerships like this one. If PHMC exerts too much control FNL could lose its 501(c)3 charitable tax status, as well as face other legal concerns. Don’t you think the person that PHMC wants to be in charge of all FNL’s decisions should understand the basic legal distinctions between the organizations and their relationship? Especially if PHMC’s agreement wants Jim Hall to have final say in all FNL’s hiring and firing decisions, and all decisions related to Niagara?
    • Court: For the third time, no one has gone to court! Jim Hall makes this accusation at least three times in these meeting notes. It’s unclear if Hall is misinformed, confused, or just making things up for effect (like the $1 Million dollars he claims he disbursed to FNL).
    • There’s “going to be a reckoning?” More threats? Really, sir?
  • that the FNL only cared about sailing the Niagara and didn’t care about the museum but that he was hired to run the museum and cared about everything,
    • False. FNL supported the museum through its obligations in the associate’s agreement (run the store and admissions, the rental program, provide marketing support, etc.). Over the course of its history, FNL has also supported the museum’s projects, as well as capital investments like replacing the museum’s carpets. But FNL’s charter and primary activities are centered around supporting the Brig, especially since FNL took on her maintenance and operation in 2009 when the Commonwealth could no longer afford to do it themselves.
    • False. Jim Hall claims he cares about everything at the site, but he has only “sailed” on Niagara once and that was during the Tall Ships Erie 2022 Parade of Sail, which is motoring in a parade and nothing like a day sail or voyage where crew hoists the sails, maneuvers by the wind, involves passengers as trainees to help run the ship, and delivers history lessons in the midst of it all. Hall never made efforts to talk to crew, learn about how the ship is rigged or how sailing works, or understand any of the maintenance work, the seasonal flows, or anything else related to the ship’s operation… These things were happening on a daily basis and Jim Hall never even stopped down to be curious, learn, or investigate. Does this sound like someone who cares about “everything?”
  • that when he was being interviewed he told the interviewer that he was “not a tall ship guy” and if that’s what they wanted the interview should stop right then and there, but he was assured that that is not what they wanted,
    • They have put someone who is “not a tall ship guy” in charge of all the decisions for Niagara. Just a moment before, Jim Hall claimed to be the only one who cared about everything at the site, but in the very next breath he talks about threatening a reporter with not doing an interview if they ask him to talk about the ship? Wow.
  • that his predecessor had not been as energetic and hands-on as himself and now he was in charge and everyone was finding out what that meant and that the FNL not happy now that someone who took charge of everything was Administrator because it meant that they couldn’t run their own show like they used to when PHMC authority was not being exerted like it legally should have been,
    • This is laughable. To suggest that Captain Walter Rybka was not “energetic” and “hands-on” is absurd to anyone who knew him. And the idea that he did not “take charge” is equally absurd. Rybka and FNL had a long relationship, but Rybka had strong opinions and they weren’t always the same as what FNL had in mind. FNL never “ran the show.” They operated in concert and under the direction of Site Administrator Rybka. Sometimes Rybka made decisions that favored the ship over the museum, (like decreasing the amount of money FNL provided for curatorial support from $4,000 to $0) but they were Rybka’s choices, not FNL’s. Rybka slowed down in recent years due to health changes, but he was a force to be reckoned with and a legend in the industry.
  • that he secured $300,000 from the State to repair Niagara’s stern in drydock,
    • False. As stated previously, the discussions for Keystone funding on the stern work were begun in January 2020 and agreed upon in fall 2020, before Jim Hall was even hired. I am pretty sure funding for all of the Keystone grants FNL received were negotiated, contracted, and reimbursed through communications directly between FNL and Western Bureau Chief Charlie Fox (Hall’s supervisor). (Note: Our Right to Know Requests show in late 2023, Hall was involved in reimbursements for the work FNL did Jan – Jun 2023 when they had no contract with PHMC, as part of the state’s reconciliation process once the contractor agreement was signed in Jul 2023. But the Keystone grants seem to have be administered by Western Bureau Chief, Charlie Fox.) Jim Hall was the monkey in the middle on that 2021 Keystone grant for the stern repair; he had no role whatsoever. He just happened to be around when the funds were disbursed. This is not the first time Jim Hall has taken credit for things he has no involvement with.
  • that he stopped the FNL from taking the cover off the Niagara in the spring of 2021 because the FNL did not have an approved plan from Mr. Hall,
    • False. Here is Jim Hall’s own email granting permission for cover removal, discussing covid safety protocols for the volunteers, and wishing them good luck.
  • that the FNL just decided to take the cover off without him approving it and that he put a stop to it as soon as he learned what was going on,
    • False. (See previous response.)
  • that he would not have approved taking the cover off then anyway because the FNL wanted to take the Niagara to drydock in the spring and then take Niagara to drydock in the fall as well, and that it was not fiscally responsible to take the Niagara to drydock twice in one year and that the FNL was not being responsible because all they cared about was sailing the ship,
    • False. In the email linked above, Hall clearly approves volunteer participation for the cover removal.
    • Jim Hall was also at the March FNL board meeting where they discussed and voted to send Niagara to shipyard. Hall made no comments and asked no questions either during or after the meeting to express any concerns, if he had them at the time. Further down in these comments there are links to documents that show even more evidence that in spring 2021 PHMC had expectations that Niagara would have summer sailing operations.
    • The only reason why two shipyards were under consideration is because PHMC said the Keystone grant approved in fall 2020 would not be available until fall 2021, preventing FNL from completing the work at the intended spring 2021 shipyard. PHMC caused delays in the 2020 approval in the first place. In Jan 2020 PHMC asked for one proposal for three projects, but when FNL turned that in, PHMC said it needed to be broken out into three separate projects with separate budgets and proposals. FNL can’t give them what they want if they don’t ask for it clearly in the first place. Delays, delays, delays… and lack of clarity and consistency in communication.
    • FNL’s board felt it was worth the expense because after covid lockdown the community deserved to see Niagara as a beacon of hope and things returning to normal. She is the visual reminder of what we can accomplish – the scrappy frontier town who built a fleet, took on the best navy in the world, and won. Under those circumstances, it was felt that raising the additional funds would not be a hardship or risk to the organization’s fiscal health.
  • that Niagara was strictly an amenity of the EMM, to serve the goals of the EMM,
    • What PHMC actually seems to be upset about is that the public appears to care more about Niagara than they do about the museum. And that the public recognizes the name Flagship Niagara League more than they recognize PHMC.
    • The ship came first. The museum came more than ten years later, and was originally designed to interpret and enhance the presentation of Niagara, and provide context for the War of 1812. If PHMC wants that focus and relationship to be different, then they need to acknowledge what has been, where we are now, and make a plan for how to get where they want to go.
    • I don’t understand why Jim Hall and PHMC seem to think that elevating the museum to have greater stature than Niagara requires the diminishment of the ship. Couldn’t they just improve the quality and stature of the museum to match the ship’s reputation in the community? Leverage the influence of what’s already successful? Why is this pie finite?
    • Jim Hall has said multiple times that he’d prefer Niagara to be a dockside attraction. That’s why volunteers are so concerned about PHMC’s intentions. Referring to her as an “amenity” of the museum feels like a coded way to say the same thing.
  • that he wanted Niagara to sail in 2022,
    • Absurdly false. His own actions demonstrate his lack of commitment and the roadblocks he personally put in the way of Niagara’s 2022 season. Click here and scroll to the “Additional Documents” section to see the emails between Hall, Sabatini, PHMC Executive Director Andrea Lowery, and state legislators. Jim Hall and PHMC led FNL to believe that they could proceed with the 2022 sailing season (they even approved a fall 2021 press release with the season’s information). Then in December 2021, Hall claimed that these were FNL’s intentions but PHMC had never approved the plan. Legislators had to get involved to bring PHMC leadership to the negotiating table. What should have been concluded in October 2021 took until February 2022, to approve the plans for Niagara’s sailing season and her participation in Tall Ships Erie.
    • Jim Hall and PHMC appear to have intentionally misled FNL into signing contracts and making commitments for 2022, while apparently never intending to approve the sailing season at all (or perhaps planned to make changes to it at the last minute). This would have left FNL scrambling, destroyed credibility, wasted funds, and potentially even put them out of business.
    • It feels consistent with PHMC’s about-face in April 2021, when they suddenly canceled Niagara’s 2021 sailing season. Yet they claim over and over that they want Niagara to sail?
    • If this had been a simple error or misunderstanding, then PHMC should have been able to respond to Sabatini’s December 2021 email immediately, and easily correct the situation. But it took weeks for Executive Director Lowery to respond. And it only happened after legislators requested a meeting with PHMC leadership in January 2022 (i.e. political pressure). PHMC’s refusal to respond suggests to me that this was an intentional act. And that after Jim Hall disclosed the secret to a volunteer, PHMC felt caught, did not have a plan, and were scrambling to figure out how to contain the situation.
  • that he had given permission months ago for the Niagara cover to be removed but the FNL refused to do anything to remove the cover,
    • He just finished saying that he didn’t give permission. Which statement is correct?
  • that he didn’t see any way in which sailing the Lettie G Howard furthered the mission of the EMM in any way, (I explained how it did and he said the same thing later)
    • It is unclear whether Jim Hall is intentionally ignoring Cook’s correction, or if he’s just not capable of listening to and processing information that doesn’t agree with what he already believes. Classic confirmation bias?
    • This is just one of many examples where Jim Hall says something absurd or inaccurate, someone provides him with the correct information, and he later reaffirms what he said in the first place (sometimes minutes later, sometimes days or weeks later). Whether verbal or written communication, he does not alter what he believes, even when he is shown direct evidence that his statements are incorrect.
    • Schooners like Lettie were the workhorses of the Great Lakes. Daniel Dobbins sailed one, and several took part in the Battle of Lake Erie. She provides access and historic interpretation when Niagara is away on a voyage, and allows comparison of technologies and use between the ships (military vs commercial, built 80 years apart, etc.). The museum docents have said they like having Lettie at the museum for these reasons. Bonus: Lettie is a National Historic Landmark. (Not even Niagara can say that.)
    • The benefits of having Lettie docked at the museum are enumerated on the second page of the contract between FNL and PHMC governing her berth there. I t should be something Jim Hall has access to, and as Site Administrator, should have read.
    • Additionally, the messaging around Lettie coming to Erie in 2018 was specifically focused on how she would improve the visitor experience at the museum. Click here for a Your Erie article from February 2018 and here for the press conference that was held at the Erie Maritime Museum announcing that Lettie was coming to Erie.
  • that Lettie wasn’t even sailing from the EMM,
    • In winter/spring 2021, PHMC forbid Lettie to sail from their dock except during the museum’s regular office hours (when PHMC staff were onsite, 8:30am – 5pm). They claimed this was due to liability concerns. (Although people voyage on Niagara which is also Commonwealth property, in the middle of the lake, outside of normal museum hours, with no PHMC staff present…)
    • Instead of allowing the museum’s outreach to extend beyond the museum’s regular hours (with no additional expense or effort on PHMC’s part), PHMC tried to cancel the most popular option: the 2-hour sunset sail. Why would you cut back on the feature most people want? Sunset offers the best return on outreach for the museum.
    • FNL had successfully operated sunset sails from the EMM plaza for several years, and to my knowledge there had never been any customer incidents. When PHMC suddenly said “no,” it endangered FNL’s ability to be fiscally responsible in operating the ship (leased from South Street Seaport Museum). Since PHMC refused to negotiate a way for Lettie to continue operating out of her museum berth (sound familiar?), FNL had to find a new place to host Lettie’s sails. So, every morning the crew took the boat to Dobbins Landing, and every evening brought her home to the museum.
    • Operating from the satellite location of Dobbins Landing (an easy walk from the museum) ended up enhancing outreach because of the greater visibility. Many people have no idea we even have tall ships in Erie. Many people have discovered that Niagara and the museum exist at all because of Lettie’s satellite location.
  • that the FNL was acting like a rogue organization outside of the EMM in sailing Lettie during 2021,
    • PHMC Executive Director Andrea Lowery, and Jim Hall himself confirm that Lettie is allowed to do day sails and they have no responsibility for decisions about Lettie, especially considering the context of the museum’s reduced hours around covid reopening. You can see these discussions as early as January 2021; March 18, 2021; April 27, 2021; June 18, 2021;
  • (upon me asking him what his goals and vision were for the EMM and Niagara) that all decisions, authority, and vision for anything the EMM and Niagara did came from him and his office under his contract with PHMC.
    • PHMC loves to claim they are “collaborating” but what we see here (what we see consistently) is Hall acting like a tiny dictator. 
    • Jim Hall doesn’t even answer Cook’s question about what his goals and vision are. How can Cook try to be supportive of them, if Hall can’t even verbalize them?
  • We also discussed Mr. Johnson’s upcoming year-long deployment and the necessity of finding a temporary replacement for his position until he returned from his year of naval service. In this all agreed that Mr. Johnson would be missed and it was critical for PHMC to approve someone to do his work while he was away.
    • Despite Jim Hall’s complaints that he was understaffed, spent too much time on the museum floor, and wanted to hire paid docents, Hall appears to have done nothing to secure temporary assistance during Johnson’s year-long absence, despite his protestations that he would be hiring someone. Months into the deployment Hall was still claiming someone would be hired. He moved about as fast on Johnson’s temporary coverage as PHMC has with hiring a new Captain for Niagara…
  • Finally, I offered to encourage the FNL to contact Mr. Hall. He encouraged me to cease any activity by the NVC and support him. That concluded the meeting and I was escorted outside by Mr. Johnson.
    • What a conclusion. Jim Hall says you should abandon what you believe in and ignore your own feelings and concerns. Support me. Us versus them. And in spite of the numerous hours you’ve spent in this building as a volunteer over the years, just to show that we don’t trust you, Johnson will escort you out of the building. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out…

This is Niagara’s leadership…

Jim Hall peers over dock
Jim Hall looks at Niagara and scratches his head in confusion

As I stated at the beginning, PHMC claims that Niagara will be in good hands as soon as they hire a Captain. However, the person that Captain will report to is Erie Maritime Museum (EMM) Site Administrator Jim Hall. Is Hall up to the job? Is he responsible enough to make good decisions for the ship, crew, and community?

On the blog Protect Brig Niagara, we share documents from our Right to Know Requests and personal experiences because it is up to the public to decide these questions for themselves. After seeing Jim Hall’s behavior in these meeting notes, do you feel confident in his ability to manage the U.S. Brig Niagara? If EMM creates a new nonprofit associate group to partner with, Hall will be in charge of them. And PHMC’s associate agreement sets him up as final arbiter of all things. How do you feel about that?

These are big questions for our community. And they deserve to be discussed.

Don’t Give Up The Ship!

Katie Z.

A special thank you to Ryan Cook for giving us permission to share his record of this August 2021 meeting with Erie Maritime Museum Site Administrator Jim Hall. Cook is a good leader, a calm and thoughtful presence, someone who looks for solutions, is passionate about maritime history, and cares deeply about the ships and the volunteer community. We’re lucky to have him in Erie.

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