With the departure of Lance Jenkins to the Roanoke Avenue Business Alliance as Main Street director, the Roanoke Rapids Parks and Recreation Department will freeze his former position as manager of the Roanoke Canal Museum and Trail.

Parks and Recreation Director John Simeon said this morning the position will be frozen for the remainder of this fiscal year and the next fiscal year.

“We're going to add some additional part time staff and I think we will save generally $30,000 to $35,000,” Simeon said.

Current hours of the museum will not change as the department rotates three part time employees throughout the week. “We will work to the best of our ability to try to continue programs, the lecture series which is a popular program, our mountain biking club, our concerts on the lawn.”

Simeon said the programs the department may have difficulty with continuing are the ones which are most time intensive. Those include the Halloween Haunted Trail and future exhibits with the school systems.

The half marathon on the Canal Trail will continue, Simeon said.