Dozens of local arts supporters crammed into fold-out chairs at the Baird Tuesday night to register their protest of the proposed elimination of Assistant Director of Recreation and Cultural Affairs Judy Wukitsch's job.

The Board of Trustees is contending with a $5.1 million budget deficit this year and voted to submit a draft layoff plan to the state Department of Personnel last Monday. The plan calls for eliminating 14 jobs on the Village payroll, including that of Wukitsch—who makes $78,000 a year, plus benefits—and another Department of Recreation and Cultural Affairs staffer who makes $38,000 plus benefits.

At the top of the bill was a question-and-answer session with Andrew Brady, director of Recreation and Cultural Affairs, who began his remarks by stating that the department wouldn't be able to maintain the Pierro Gallery without Wukitsch, who co-founded it in 1994 with her late husband, Lennie Pierro, though classes and concerts would continue.

"I've been here 43 years, and I've seen good times and bad times. These are bad times," said Brady, who cited last year's cancellation of the Fourth of July fireworks, this year's cancellation of fireworks at Village Aglow and the elimination of two part-time summer positions charged with maintaining sports fields when asked if his department was making cuts outside of cultural affairs. He also mentioned new fees for summer day camp, which rose from $450 or $500 to $700 this year.

While no decisions on personnel are definite—the Department of Personnel must approve the plan, and then the Board of Trustees must vote again on whether to pass it—he emphasized that all Village departments are squeezed right now. Department heads knew as early as a year ago—well in advance of the economic unraveling—that this year's budget would be tight. But though there was speculation about layoffs, he was only told about the plan on the morning before last week's Board of Trustee meeting, and Wukitsch was told later that afternoon.

"Everything is relative to a big picture we just don't see," he said.

Wukitsch didn't attend Tuesday's meeting, but many people in attendance—including a Columbia High School art teacher, the director of a local dance company, a well-known jazz musician, and numerous volunteers from the Pierro Gallery and other Baird arts programs—signed up to give testimonials attesting to her value. Some attacked the premise that volunteers could take over the running of local arts programs in the model of the 1978 Maplewood Art Center and spoke of Wukitsch's facility with coordinating volunteers and writing grants and her network of contacts.

"You really have to have a central professional position that organizes and fuses the kinds of disparate things that are happening," said Lydia Johnson, the director of a local non-profit dance company.

Several speakers alluded to the synergy between South Orange's vibrant arts scene and home values, and realtor Liz Demaree said that local arts offerings are key to attracting young first-time home buyers from places like Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan's west side.

"On a personal level, South Orange wouldn't be such an interesting place to live without [the arts]," she said.

At about 9 p.m., the conversation turned into a brainstorming session on how to make the case to save Wukitsch's job to the Board of Trustees. Among the ideas floated was organizing a benefit concert, seeking an arts grant to fund the position, and encouraging the Village to enter into shared services agreements with Maplewood.

"We all love Judy, and that's why we sat up here for an hour and a half, but the thing we need to figure out is how to save her salary," said John Lee, a jazz bassist who's a producer of the Baird's Giants of Jazz series.

At the end of the meeting, the event's organizer Susan Napack—a graphic designer and member of the Pierro Gallery's executive committee—echoed the sentiments of many when she spoke of the importance of the arts to South Orange's identity.

"When you start messing with the mission behind a brand and what it represents, you really drag the whole thing down," she said.