The executive director for The L. Alan Cruikshank River of Time Museum, Luke Bate, is stepping down at the end of the year.

Starting in mid-September, he will scale back his duties to half-time, according to board president Debbie Skehen. Bate became museum director in November 2014.

The board of directors was notified at its July 11 meeting of Bate’s pending departure, said Skehen. He is moving to Portland. Upon Bate’s suggestions, the board has decided to hire three part-time individuals rather than a full-time single director.

Splitting Bate’s responsibilities will be a volunteer manager, sales/store manager and director, said Skehen.

The first two positions would be paid at a lower rate than the director and would take on duties that do not require a museum director’s knowledge and experience.

“It is hoped that these two positions will be filled with local Fountain Hills people,” she said.

Skehen said she hopes the positions can be filled by Oct. 1 when the museum reverts to winter hours and Bate can train them.

The director would be responsible for continuing and completing the museum’s Vision 2020 plan, overseeing the two other paid positions, and working with the board.

The first phase of the Vision plan would provide an open, modular exhibit design to allow for the regular change of space and content and accommodate more people by December 2017. New access points to the patio would be provided for outdoor exhibits and activities.

The second phase would expand the public space for larger exhibits, a new store and a new main entrance in December 2020 to commemorate the town’s 50th birthday.

Skehen said Bate’s “visionary approach” and broad range of skills have enabled the museum to begin moving toward a “modern museum structure that will be flexible, appealing and constantly changing to both keep our members interested and coming back, grow our membership and increase our visitor count. We will tell the same story — just in ever different ways.”

The museum will advertise locally and through the state’s museum associations for a director successor. Skehen hopes to have the new director on board before Bate leaves.

“I feel very fortunate that Luke has been with us for two years,” said Skehen. “His leadership has resulted in many positive changes to our operating structure and set us on an exciting future path. Needless to say, I wish we could entice him to stay.

“It has been a pleasure working with him and all of us have learned a great deal about museum management and what a museum should offer the public in today’s world. I’m extremely pleased that he is helping us set up a structure that we believe will better serve the museum’s future needs with the amount of funds we have available and increasingly be of greater value to the town.”

Before coming to the River of Time Museum, Bate was assistant director of the Arizona Capitol Museum in Phoenix where he served in various capacities dating back to 2007.

One of Bate’s initiatives here was a water exhibit that concentrated on the sources for the delivery of water to Fountain Hills, Fort McDowell and the Verdes.