If you haven’t read Part 1, I encourage you to start there. Part 1 introduces the report and details my first-hand observations of two instances where PHMCThe Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) is the state agency that stewards the U.S. Brig Niagara and Erie Maritime Museum. The PHMC is responsible for the collect... staff exhibited the same behaviors in 2021 as decried by the Auditor General in 2010. Part 2 (this article) will cover PHMC’s current behaviors. Part 3 will review their staff and culture then and now, and end with of some of the most egregious findings from the Auditor General’s 2010 report.

The Pennsylvania Auditor General’s 2010 performance audit report revealed deep concerns over the PA Historical and Museum Commission’s (PHMC) handling of artifacts.  The report refers to “PHMC” but the branch of the commission under review in the report is PHMC’s Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums (BHSM) – the branch of the organization that manages sites including the U.S. Brig Niagara and Erie Maritime MuseumThe Erie Maritime Museum (EMM) is a cultural institution located in Erie, Pennsylvania, dedicated to preserving and showcasing the region's maritime heritage. Established in 1997, ... (EMM), and the Bureau of the State Museum (BSM) – closely aligned with BHSM in terms of their missions, directives, and operational similarities handling collections of artifacts, facilities open to the public, and museum operations. The report’s opening letter to Gov Ed Rendell states, “Our auditors found an environment of lax oversight and accountability that is conducive to theft and potential fraud. Specifically, more than 1,800 artifacts could not be located and are considered missing. In addition, physical inventories are not conducted properly and routinely.” (Click here for the full copy of the Auditor General’s report.)

If PHMC is lax in their own professional sphere, why should we trust them in maritime affairs? Why should we trust them with the operations and maintenance of the U.S. Brig Niagara? 

As you will see below, not much has changed at PHMC’s Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums (BHSM) since the Auditor General’s 2010 report. Their staff has barely changed, especially the leadership. The behaviors they exhibited in 2021 match those of the 2010 report. And the behaviors we’ve seen from late 2023 to now (when they took over direct management of the Niagara) also match the poor performance decried in the 2010 report.

Change is intentional, not accidental

PHMC and their Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums (BHSM) have the power to change, but it’s up to them if they want to change. It’s a choice. This 2010 Auditor General’s report contains recommendations for specific, finite behavior changes, but the report also expresses explicit concern about the culture created by leadership at PHMC. Culture (aka shared values, beliefs, and expectations) are what drives decisions and actions. If PHMC/BHSM hasn’t changed their culture, then even if they addressed those finite items called out in the report, we’re just going to see the same sorts of problems showing up again later in slightly different ways. In Part 1 of this article, I demonstrated that while I was employed on site at the Erie Maritime Museum from 2020 – 2022 I witnessed the same sorts of decisions and behaviors. (Two specifically: their absurd and useless “inventory” of everything in the building implemented in a similar manner as described in the 2010 audit report; their huge failure in implementing a new ticketing system that they are now replacing three years later like they failed to properly implement their collections software for 10 years after purchase leaving them still working off a card catalog in 2009)  I argue that the culture at PHMC’s Bureau of Historic Sites and Museums (BHSM) has not changed their culture since this 2010 report was written. You need to change the beliefs and assumptions that lead to the poor decisions, lax environment, and lack of accomplishment called out in the Auditor General’s report, not just specific, finite behaviors. If you don’t change the drivers behind poor decisions, nothing will truly change.

What we need and deserve from our state historic agency is a culture where the expectation is to deliver projects on time. If projects meet roadblocks, then you figure out what is required to get past them and still deliver on time. Every business needs to adjust sometimes (because sometimes things are just out of your control). But over and over what we get from PHMC/BHSM is just delay, delay, delay without actually delivering on their promises, unless they are forced to by our legislators. And they do this with everything.

Little Change Visible 2023 – 2024

In this 2010 Auditor General’s report we see that prior to the 2009 investigation PHMC/BHSM staff were rarely if ever held accountable for missed deadlines or projects left unfinished. The auditors detail how PHMC performed zero inventories on several collections of artifacts across BHSM sites and had extremely long delays on others. On inventories that were completed at the historic sites, the lists were either never compared against the catalog or were delayed by months or years. The auditors describe how the digitization of their collection catalog languished for an entire decade – uncompleted and unreliable – despite the initial expense invested in it and its potential to dramatically improve collection integrity. In Part 1 of this series I showed how PHMC was still performing in the same manner from 2020 – 2022.

It would be easy to blame previous PHMC staff for decisions made in the past (like PHMC’s former Director of BHSM Brenda Reigle, or former BHSM Western Division Chief Charlie Fox) , or even blame the Flagship Niagara League (FNL), the nonprofit partner managing the ship. But even the 2010 Auditor Report decries that option.

“The weaknesses identified by our auditors were present under the tenure of the current management and, therefore, not rectified. While we are mindful that methods, practices, and policies evolve over time, especially with the advancement of technology, it is still incumbent on upon the existing management to institute appropriate corrective measures and eliminate identified deficiencies, as opposed to allowing subsequent administrations to contest with longstanding problems that potentially jeopardize the preservation of invaluable collections.“
– page 37

We continue to see this same PHMC/BHSM behaviors today in their treatment of the U.S. Brig Niagara, during this most recent period while PHMC/BHSM has had the primary responsibility and control of the ship, her management, and her maintenance.

Staffing-Specific Delays, Failures, and Concerns:

• They terminated their previous maintenance staff (the Flagship Niagara League, FNL) without any maritime staff lined up to take on the responsibilities. (You want to terminate the previous staff? Fine. But have your new staff lined up. This is basic.)
  
• When FNL offered to provide interim services until new staff was hired, PHMC/BHSM refused the offer, even though the ship still required marine winterization work and we were heading into January’s freezing conditions and winter storm season.
  
• PHMC/BHSM promised to hire a Captain and essential crew within three months. It took them eight months to finally hire a Captain, and they still have no other crew in site (except a temporary crew hired without an open process, and hired solely to transit Niagara to and from a brief shipyard). There have been concerns expressed about the Captain’s hiring process (PHMC used a closed, invitation-only process, and may have done so to purposely exclude a qualified veteran who expressed interest, who under state law is mandated to be given preference over any equally qualified candidates). It is also unclear whether all the sailors hired for the transit to shipyard were American sailors as required under various federal regulations (see article). We have asked PHMC for specific clarification on that issue and they have yet to respond.
  
• PHMC/BHSM attempted to hire an additional crew member – a ship’s carpenter – but the effort failed, and it’s not all that surprising when you look at what they asked for. They tried to hire a shipwright (a specialized carpenter for ships) but the position description was a blend of engineer, licensed AB sailor (requires passing a written test as well as many hours operating at sea), and significant amounts of experience on top of shipwright skills, plus expectations to manage volunteers and do administrative tasks. They extended the submission deadline multiple times, with the position open for a total of seven weeks. At the urging of a volunteer, midway through the posting PHMC converted it to a union-protected carpentry position, to try and attract people who were wary based on previous experiences working with PHMC or had heard stories about their endless demands, lack of understanding, reliance on their own opinions and preferences above those of maritime professionals, and the pressure to be all things all the time. For more details, or to see the position description, read our petition update: Sailing God Wanted.
  
• PHMC/BHSM has had one maritime contractor involved (former Niagara Captain Wesley Heerson), and he’s only available for a few days here and there. He does appear to care deeply about the ship, and has stated that he plans to donate his contractor fee, once there is a manner available to do so (without a nonprofit partner the government agency has no way to receive donations). But it’s been years since Heerson was involved with Niagara, and one person with experience long past (he’s been working on commercial freighters in recent years) is not the same as the promised crew hirings that have been delayed for almost an entire year.
  
• After finally hiring a Captain, PHMC restricted volunteer access to the new Captain and refused to allow any volunteer opportunities outside of their once-a-week, invitation-only, private meet-and-greets, delaying any ship’s work even longer. They invited ship volunteers to meet the new Captain four at a time, invited by alphabetical order, and volunteer shifts were only an option on the day of your audience. See the email announcement of this volunteer management decision, and the actual invitations which were generally sent about five days before the offered meeting.
  
  These meetings were held on weekday mornings with short notice and frequently only one person showed up for them. After the Erie Times News published an unflattering article about the lack of volunteers in early September, PHMC seems to have sped through the rest of the meet-and-greet process in one week and finally scheduled an open invitation Saturday work party. But it took PHMC almost two months after the new Captain was hired to have a real volunteer work day: PHMC announced the new Captain on July 30, 2024, and that first work party was Sept, 21, 2024. There were volunteers actively asking to come in and do work for the ship, but PHMC said no – it’s this process or nothing. No wonder they are having trouble getting volunteers to participate…

Ship-Specific Delays, Failures, and Concerns:

• When the winter cover was destroyed by a storm on January 9-10, 2024, it took PHMC three weeks to do anything about it. (For context, PHMC notified FNL of contract termination December 12, 2023 with an end date of Dec 31, 2023.) Heck, it took PHMC over a week to just take the remnants of the shredded cover off the ship! There were large swaths of plastic draped off the ship in the marina slip. And they only accomplished any of those activities because the volunteers with Protect Brig Niagara exposed the situation publicly. We notified news agencies of the issue. A photo is worth a thousand words. See our petition update and subsequent news coverage of initial damage in a January 9th storm and the completion of temporary cover installation three weeks later on February 2nd.
  
  PHMC paints a much rosier picture to their superiors. At the subsequent quarterly PHMC Commissioners meeting, Director of the Bureau of Historic Sites & Museums (BHSM) Melissa MannMelissa Mann serves as Director of the Bureau of Historic Sites & Museums for PHMC. Starting the role in 2021, she supervises 24 state-owned historic sites and museums along th... praised the BHSM team to the commissioners for completing the “emergency response” cover repair in 4.5 days, glossing over the fact that it took them three weeks to get to that point; see the PHMC Commission meeting notes that record this omission.
  
• The Erie Maritime Museum (EMM) spent $9,000 on safety harnesses for working above deck-level in January 2024 (fifteen harnesses purchased at $600 each). The new Captain confirmed to volunteers that PHMC purchased the wrong kind of harnesses, and the $9,000 worth of harnesses will have to be replaced. Add that to the list of “cost savings” Erie Maritime Museum Site Administrator Jim Hall claimed would be rolling in by bringing management of Niagara in-house…).
  
• PHMC tried to get out of the Fall 2023 U.S. Coast Guard’s mandatory shipyard. When they were forced to go anyway (because… it was mandatory), PHMC chose not to replace the broken propellors and dropped the ball on the out-of-water marine survey that was required for planning future work on the ship. This meant that the ship and crew had to make the perilous voyage across the lake on one propellor twice, instead of just on the way to shipyard. And the missed survey delayed the potential future maintenance projects.
  
• PHMC put off addressing many of the US Coast Guard’s deficiencies until Spring 2024. (See the letter of intent from PHMC’s Executive Director Andrea LoweryAndrea Lowery, serves as Executive Director and Chief of the Division of Architecture and Preservation for PHMC., filled with more vague promises… Vague promises are a PHMC hallmark.) PHMC/BHSM missed the spring 2024 deadline they had promised to the Coast Guard (of course), then missed their revised August 2024 deadline (no surprises here), and didn’t manage to get Niagara to shipyard until late October 2024. It took PHMC one entire additional year to address those issues which could have and should have been attended to in Fall 2023. It is unclear whether these delays are intentional on their part, due to incompetence, a culture that allows slack outcomes, or the cumbersome nature of the state bureaucracy. In my opinion, it’s usually a combination of these things. The problem is, these delays negatively affect our ship, the trust the Coast Guard has in the people who manage her, and it negatively affects our community here in Erie and beyond.
  
• As a result of all the shipyard delays and PHMC’s inattention to mandatory requirements, on April 23, 2024 the Coast Guard put Niagara into inactive status, which means she can’t even host deck tours while docked behind the museum. (See news coverage.) PHMC claims being inactive is common before Niagara goes to shipyard, but the only other time it appears to have occurred in Niagara’s history was during covid lockdown, because she was completely non-operational as was most of the rest of the world. Not even deck tours now? The deficiencies that lead to the inactive status could have been attended to in Fall 2023 but PHMC said no. Why? And how are these management choices serving PHMC/BHSM’s mission and connecting the people of Pennsylvania with their history?
  
• The marine surveyor was prepared to attend that fall 2023 shipyard and complete the survey, but PHMC appears to have plain old dropped the ball on notifying him of the dates. We can see PHMC/BHSM’s basic, unforced fumble plainly in this email chain from our Right to KnowA Right to Know (RTK) request is a request for information from a state or local government body in Pennsylvania. You are allowed to request any kind of information, and aside from... Law requests.
  
  The marine surveyor was still intending to come in Fall 2023 to complete the out of water survey. He emailed PHMC a few days before the fall shipyard to ask… what’s up? PHMC/BHSM appears to have just plain old lost track during the Western Division Chief’s planned retirement period. It’s unclear whether losing track was accidental, and intentional choice for plausible deniability, or a change in plans that they forgot to communicate to anyone else.
  
  Regardless of how it happened, it set back the timeline on the ship’s overdue maintenance projects for at least six months. Accidental or intentional, the harm was done. The long overdue maintenance projects PHMC/BHSM keep promising are dependent on the data from that survey. The planning, drafting, and proposal periods can’t even begin until that survey report is completed. Being now an entire year behind with that survey has led to a situation where PHMC/BHSM claims Niagara will be unable to return to Erie in time to participate in Tall Ships Erie in August 2025. Former Niagara Captain and FNL Executive Director Billy Sabatini outlined the timeline for work to PHMC in this email. It was possible to get Niagara’s long-term work completed in time for her to participate in Tall Ships Erie 2025, but PHMC “missed the boat” over and over on delivering what needed to be done to accomplish that.
  
  Again, it makes me wonder whether this is incompetence, a slacker culture that puts their own needs and comfort ahead of the needs of the public and communities they purport to serve, or an outright intention to miss these deadlines?
  How do they continue to miss deadlines that they set themselves and have stated publicly, over and over?
  
• PHMC’s payment processes are slow and cumbersome. When the Coast Guard reminded PHMC that the Fall 2023 shipyard was required and not optional, PHMC couldn’t pay for it on that short timeline. The nonprofit partner Flagship Niagara League (FNL) had to front the money for the state agency. PHMC has crowed that bringing Niagara’s management and operations in-house will provide more stable funding for the ship and her care. But so far, the reality we’ve seen doesn’t support that claim. What’s going to happen if PHMC/BHSM doesn’t plan well again and can’t meet Coast Guard requirements? More time in inactive status? How many times can this happen before the Coast Guard gets fed up and take away her Certificate of Inspection (COI)The Certificate of Inspection(COI) is a legal document issued by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) confirming that a vessel meets specified safety and operational standards. It ... entirely?
  
• PHMC/BHSM claimed they would not replace the propellors in summer 2023 or fall 2023 because it was not sensible to buy short-term off-the-shelf propellors, and Niagara should limp along with one propellor until the specialty folding ones could be ordered. These are bureaucrats with no maritime experience making decisions about what they think is a proper and safe maintenance choice for a historic wooden vessel with live souls on board on the open lake. That meant that Captain SabatiniFleet Captain William "Billy" Sabatini is the executive director and fleet captain of the Flagship Niagara League. Sabatini grew up in southeastern Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and ... had to take his crew to that mandatory fall 2023 shipyard, through the 16+ hour journey across Lake Erie, up the Cuyahoga River, under bridges, and get maneuvered into the slip, on one propellor. Then make the same trip home again on the same single propellor. (This article explains the transit in detail.) Funny enough, for this fall 2024 shipyard with their new Captain, PHMC/BHSM spent the money they claimed was frivolous and wasteful to do in fall 2023. They installed a temporary propellor using divers in Erie PA before the journey to shipyard, and installed the folding custom propellors during the out-of-water period. It was a good choice for safety. Just a year later than it should have been done. To say the least, it’s concerning why PHMC forced the previous crew complete a round trip journey on only one propellor for financial reasons, then used divers to perform the same job they previously refused for the new crew (when it would have much simpler to replace them while the ship was out of the water in 2023 in the first place).
  
• Speaking of those propellors… During removal of Niagara’s winter cover this July 2024, we overheard PHMC representatives say that PHMC had still not ordered the custom propellors (which take 75 days to produce). They knew this was required last July (2023) – a full year prior. PHMC could have ordered them last July and had them in time for installation at the Coast Guard’s mandatory fall 2023 shipyard (like the Coast Guard wanted). But PHMC didn’t do that. Even after missing that opportunity for timely decision-making, during the mandatory fall 2023 shipyard, PHMC Executive Director Lowery, BHSM Director Melissa Mann, and Acting Western Bureau Chief Tyler Gum agreed over email they ought to order the propellors by the November 6, 2023 Coast Guard visit to show a good faith effort in support of their letter of intent. But in July 2024, they still hadn’t ordered the propellors? Why not? Financial constraints? (Which they promised would be better when they were running things directly.) Laziness? Simply deciding it wasn’t urgent for them and they could take the ship to shipyard whenever it is convenient for them? Even though they had promised the public (and promised the Coast Guard) a spring 2024 shipyard? Possibly, an intentional decision to withhold the order until there was no way the long-term work could be completed in time for Niagara to participate in Tall Ships Erie 2025?

With these sorts of promises and failures, why should we believe anything PHMC says? Why should we believe any of their stated intentions, commitments, or timelines?

Why does this matter?

If PHMC was just an entity unto itself, and wasn’t harming anyone else through their ineptitude, then we could look the other way. But their ongoing failures over at least two decades has made caring for the U.S. Brig Niagara more difficult and more expensive. They add delays and barriers to her proper care, they exclude others from the process, they appear to actively fight transparency, and it all has added up to harmful effects on the social and economic well-being of our region. PHMC’s failures lead to more costs for tax payers and fewer benefits in return. They don’t appear to be working hard at improving that, and appear to think that there’s nothing we can do about it.

As I’ve mentioned a few times, PHMC/BHSM recently announced that Niagara would not be back in Erie in time for the August 2025 Tall Ships Erie Festival.  Every three years Erie hosts the largest tall ships celebration in the Great Lakes.  It has a huge financial impact on the local economy and tourism, drawing people to Erie from around the state and beyond (see news article on the 2022 event’s local impacts). PHMC knew the date of this event (it occurs the same week at the end of August, every three years, just like clockwork; also, the Flagship Niagara League had formally made them aware of the 2025 dates). When PHMC/BHSM dismissed the Flagship Niagara League from their management contract for the ship in December 2023, and announced PHMC would finally invest in long-overdue major repairs to the ship (delayed for years by PHMC themselves), PHMC claimed publicly over and over that the Niagara would be back from those repairs in time for Tall Ships Erie 2025.  (Just like they’ve claim over and over in the past four year that they want the ship to sail?… and she’s only sailed two half-seasons since 2020? And isn’t expected back in service until 2026?)  We’ve now learned that in internal conversations, PHMC management has known that the ship wouldn’t be back in time for Tall Ships Erie 2025 for months, however they publicly continued to say she would be. Even into late September, PHMC’s own Niagara FAQ webpage still claimed they intended the ship to participate in Tall Ships Erie 2025. It’s only finally been changed because a writer for Protect Brig Niagara pointed it out to one of the PHMC Commissioners as an example of their misleading communications.

There is also a past history of PHMC declining to participate in Tall Ships Erie, being obstructive to planning, and even including Erie Maritime Museum (EMM) Site Administrator Jim Hall throwing what might be called a temper tantrum during a Visit Erie hospitality committee meeting in 2021, essentially taking over the entire final portion of the meeting and suggesting that Niagara wouldn’t be participating in Tall Ships Erie 2022. Attendees I’ve spoken to from that meeting did not form a good first impression of EMM Site Administrator HallJames E. Hall is the Site Administrator for the Erie Maritime Museum and a PHMC staff member. He replaced Walter Rybka in December of 2020. His background includes 13 years with th.... Not to mention when EMM Site Administrator Hall and PHMC’s former Director of External Affairs Howard Pollman approved Flagship Niagara League press releases in fall 2021 stating that Niagara would be participating in Tall Ships Erie 2022 then two months later announcing that the Flagship Niagara League made those statements and PHMC had never agreed, throwing all Tall Ships Erie planning into turmoil, legislators became involved, and PHMC Executive Director Andrea Lowery did not directly answer any of the Flagship Niagara League’s questions about it for almost two months. (Read more about that saga in this article; Scroll down to the portion labeled “Additional Documents.”) PHMC has a clear history of not playing nice with this large community-wide event, despite the fact that PHMC and the Erie Maritime Museum received a significant portion of the outdoor event’s ticket sales, it drove traffic to and enhanced awareness of their facility, drew visitors from all over, and provided additional opportunities for the museum to provide programming to the public.

It’s an embarrassment that our own ship will not be here for the Pennsylvania portion of this Great Lakes-wide celebration. PHMC has been putting off this required maintenance since 2014, despite having the funds set aside by the Governor to do the work. And now, through their own mismanagement, they have created yet another situation where Niagara cannot fulfill her mission – just as when they prevented her at the last minute from sailing in 2021, and refused to replace her propellors in July 2023. Now all the people who come to attend this Erie Bayfront-wide event in 2025, coming from diverse areas will not get to see or tour Niagara? She is our state’s flagship and the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie – the most consequential battle on the entire Great Lakes. It shows how little these bureaucrats in Harrisburg care about our local Erie community, history, and economy.

Who is holding PHMC/BHSM accountable for completing the tasks they have set for themselves? No real business could afford to operate this way. Nor any nonprofit. They’d lose their customers, investors, and/or donors. (Like the way PHMC appears to currently be having trouble getting volunteers back in to help with the ship?…) So why is PHMC allowed to operate in such a slipshod manner? Even after being called out by the Auditor General, who’s supposed to be a watchdog for the government’s operations?

Why has this been allowed to continue with no change? Who is responsible for these ongoing poor management choices, endless delays, and the culture that allows it to continue unchanged for decades?

Stay tuned for these questions to be addressed in the coming Part 3…

End of Part 2.

Stay tuned for the final installment, Part 3, where we will discuss which PHMC staff have been responsible for the decisions then and now (spoiler alert: it’s the same people), and a few of the most egregious issues called out in the 2010 Auditor General’s report.