The changes come on the heels of accusations that center officials have mismanaged funds, charged excessive fees and failed to maintain the 456-acre site.

Dobbs Oxendine, who was vice chairman for the board, was named acting chairman to replace Gene Brayboy, who resigned.

Oxendine then fired director Beverly Collins and appointed Norma Lowry as interim site manager. He said a permanent replacement will be selected Oct. 10 when the board meets to elect officers.

"When the chairman resigned, I went up to the Cultural Center and closed it for two days," Oxendine said. "I then asked Ms. Collins to clean out her desk."

Oxendine said complaints about the center's mangement played a role in the dismissal. But, he said, the board was also looking for someone with more experience as an executive director.

"What we really had was a site manager, not an executive director," Oxendine said. "We need a person with more executive experience who can write grants and run the program."

Lowry said the center, which also includes a golf course, a pool, nature trails and an outdoor theater, reopened Sept. 10.

“I did not resign as chairman. I just decided not to run again because my term in that office had already expired by two months," Brayboy said. "But I did decide to step down from the board. It was the kind of position where people expect you to do everything while they sit back and watch. It was just taking too much time away from my job and my family."

A group that calls itself Citizens for the Development of a North Carolina Recreation and Activity Center started a petition drive in July asking that the site be changed to a recreation center and that the center's 15-member board of directors be dismissed.

Among the accusations was a charge that a youth dance group affiliated with the center had raised $4,194 to be used to buy a van to take the group to powwows. The group said center officials used the money to pay for lights and telephone bills. Center officials were also accused of selling tickets for a raffle in March, but never awarding the prize, a car.