MARINETTE — Marinette County Administrator John Lefebvre remains firm that he wants to transfer ownership of the UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus to the City of Marinette. Whether or not he will have a majority of board support may shake out over the next couple of months.
“It’s my intent, at the April Infrastructure Committee meeting, that I’m going to be asking the committee to recommend to the County Board to approve transferring the ownership of the UW Campus to the City of Marinette,” Lefebvre said Tuesday at the monthly county board meeting. “And start having discussions about that and see if there is any action that this county board wishes to take on that.”
Lefebvre hopes to have the issue up for discussion when the board meets next on April 16. He encouraged supervisors to ask questions among residents in their districts.
Supervisor Ginger Deschane, who represents two wards in Crivitz and one in the Town of Stephenson, said she already has spoken about this subject to about 20 residents at the Piggly Wiggly.
“To a person, they are adamant that we not give it to the City of Marinette,” she said. “The City of Marinette has gotten so many handouts from this board already. They (the residents) want to see the county make some money off of it, pay off some bills or road taxes a little bit, whatever we can do.”
Supervisors Mark Anderson and Robert Holley both said the county should look further than giving the property to the city.
Anderson suggested having the State of Wisconsin, as an independent third party, put together Request For Proposals (RFP) to help determine what the true value is to the county.
“I do think we should look further than just automatically going to the City of Marinette,” he said.
Supervisor Bonnie Popp said she has trouble supporting Lefebvre’s proposal without knowing what the city plans to do with the property.
Lefebvre said UWGB wants a new lease after the current lease expires June 30. The new one would have a much smaller footprint, including the theatre building.
“This has been my position for a while,” he said. “The reason it’s my position is there are financial consequences to the county if we continue to own and maintain that facility. I just want it to be out there because it hasn’t been discussed in any great deal or voted on.”
Lefebvre said he believes the timing is right because the new lease is being negotiated. He said the potential lease could be for five to 10 years, “where we may not be the owner of that property for five to 10 years.”
He was asked why he prefers a longer lease.
He said for continuity. “Over and over I heard people want them in our community, even if it’s distance learning.”
Lefebvre said there are a lot of details to be worked out and how quickly anything happens will be up to the county board.
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