VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Could Virginia Beach stop looking into a potential third-party operator for the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center and give the aquarium’s foundation a larger operating role?
The possibility comes as the city’s still trying to figure out the best way to pay for multi-million dollar renovations to the four-decade-old public facility. The talks, which started back in early 2023, have included negotiations with the owners of Dollywood and Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
During Tuesday’s informal city council session, Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson read a joint statement from the aquarium’s council liaisons (herself and Councilman Worth Remick) that share recommendations about the matter.
“The aquarium foundation has indicated the desire to explore the possibility of amending the partnership with the city, where it takes on more of an operational and financial role in the day-to-day operation of the aquarium,” Wilson said. “And planning for its future in a way that provides budget certainty for taxpayers. To fully explore this possibility, we are asking council to stop the alternative model exercise with outside third-parties.”
Wilson says aquarium leadership seems agreeable to the possibility of memorializing a memorandum of understanding agreeing to these three topics, which she says would be addressed collaboratively between city staff, council liaisons and the foundation:
- Review the city’s and foundation’s financial information to get a more accurate financial picture of the Virginia Aquarium’s operation and work to identify operation efficiencies for implementation
- Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the aquarium facilities
- To seek federal and state funding to support the aquarium operations and/or capital needs to move forward
“We really don’t know the condition of the building,” Wilson said. “It needs to be assessed. And this gives us a better idea exactly where it is. So we thought this was good progress that we were able to come together and agree on those things and present it to the council and hope that you agree as well.”
Wilson this most recent development came after two meetings with aquarium leadership in the past few weeks, one involving her and Mayor Bobby Dyer, and another with her and Remick before Tuesday’s council meeting.
“This was a very complex situation with a lot of moving parts. And now at least we’re in the position that we can bring it forward and to get it to a mutual win-win for everybody,” Dyer said.
Council as a whole will still have to decide whether or not to approve the recommendations, via a new memorandum of understanding. In the meantime, the foundation’s leadership has been invited to make a presentation to the public about what the agreement would entail.
Councilman Chris Taylor again raised issues he has with the process related to the aquarium’s future, something Councilwoman Barbara Henley shared she had major concerns with back in June.
He also shared concerns that the aquarium foundation, a non-profit that owns the facility’s animals and exhibits, hasn’t shared its financial data with the city’s auditor. Councilwoman Jennifer Rouse also asked why the foundation’s financial info hasn’t been made available.
“From my understanding about it, is that information that we need to fully get a holistic picture of the city’s finances and the foundation’s finances,” said Virginia Beach City Manager Patrick Duhaney in response. “As part of them agreeing to do this work going forward, if council agrees with that, they will share that information so that we can give the council, the public and the foundation a full overview of the financials it takes to operate the aquarium.”
Taylor asked “so is it fair to say without the pause [the foundation’s] not going to release the information?
“I can’t speak for the foundation,” Duhaney replied.
Duhaney added the foundation’s not obligated to the share their information, but they are audited every year in their agreement with the city.
“They have a clean audit, but their information within, beyond the audit that we need to know to get a better sense of what is the full scope of operating the aquarium, right? So we know what it takes for the city to do its side of the aquarium, but we don’t know the full scope of what it takes to operate the exhibits to take care of their animals, right?”
Wilson said the big takeaway compared to before is that the foundation is now agreeing to share their financial data, and they’re willing to be a bigger partner in operations, something she believes will benefit taxpayers.
“It’s a positive thing. I don’t think the public wants to see us in a big fight with the foundation. And here we were able to agree on some really important issues … we’ve got some real corporate interest too. And get the corporate to work on some of the financial part.”
You can watch the full conversation from Tuesday’s informal session here.