LEAGUE CITY — League City council members are expected to discuss behind closed doors today why the curator of the embattled Butler Longhorn Museum suddenly resigned two weeks ago.
Jennifer Wycoff-van der Wal submitted her resignation April 30, a day after she was accused of shredding four records, including two disciplinary notes, from her personnel file.
City officials have said Wycoff-van der Wal was not forced to resign.
Wycoff-van der Wal, who has denied destroying the records, has declined to comment on why she stepped down.
Neil Baron, who requested the closed door meeting, said he wants to know why the longtime museum curator resigned and he wants to know that “all options are open.” When asked if he would push for Wycoff-van der Wal to be reinstated, Baron said: “I have not ruled that out.”
Museum supporters who donated artifacts and cash are unhappy with her resignation and have threatened to retrieve their belongings if the city does not rehire Wycoff-van der Wal. That has not yet happened, Mayor Toni Randall said.
But, Wycoff-van der Wal said she’s not sure she would return, even if the city asked.
“Things would have to change,” she said but declined further comment.
Her resignation came just days after the museum, delayed for more than five years, finally opened to the public. It has since been closed again.
“Without Jennifer, there is no museum,” Bette Specion, of the Friends of the Butler Longhorn Museum, said.
Housed in a historic home the city bought in 2002, the museum honors Milby Butler’s longhorn cattle bloodline and early League City settlers. The museum has been criticized for cost overruns and delays that museum supporters blame on the city’s lack of oversight of contractors hired to renovate the building.
At least six other cities are interested in a museum honoring the Butler longhorn cattle, which originated in League City, Wycoff-van der Wal said.
“It would be easy to pull up a moving truck” to the museum, collect the artifacts and move elsewhere, she said.
“It would be sad to give that to Fort Worth — they’ve got so much,” she said. “We’ve got nothing.”
