By Bonnie Hedrick

Changes are coming to the Sheldon Museum.

The facility’s core staff, including longtime director Cindy C.J. Jones, office manager Henriette Arenson and operations facilitator Shori Long, all have announced plans to leave their posts, mayor Mike Case told assembly members at a meeting Monday.

The departures open the door for a cost-saving restructuring that likely will be taken up by the museum’s board of trustees. Case said expenses could be cut up to $20,000 annually.

"We’re trying to save some money and be more efficient," Jones said.

Arenson and Jones shared plans of their impending retirements before learning this week that Long, too, would be leaving.

Jones, who was hired as collections assistant in 1984, has served in the museum’s top post for 10 years. She’s the facility’s only full-time employee, with part of her salary paid by grants.

As curator and director, she’s shepherded the facility from a homegrown operation nurtured by founder Lib Hakkinen to a nationally accredited museum that’s hosted colleagues from around Alaska at two statewide conferences.

She said leaving the museum was a difficult decision, but one that will offer new opportunities and, likely, a career change. "I love the museum and I hate leaving it…I still have to decide what I want to be when I grow up."

She said one thing she won’t miss is "being stressed." In recent years, budget cuts have stretched museum staff thin, with four full-time jobs being reduced to three part-time ones.

Arenson, who works about half-time, handles the museum’s financial affairs, as well as helping out at the borough office. She said Tuesday that although she’s planning her retirement, a date has not yet been set.

As operations facilitator, Long coordinates volunteers and the museum store, as well as an assortment of other duties, including janitorial work. She’ll be moving to Anchorage.

Both Arenson and Jones plan to stay in town. "We’ll be around for questions, so no one will have to reinvent the wheel," Jones said.