GREEN BAY, WI -- Brown County has a mission to put more than $17 million in excess stadium sales tax to its best use.
Tonight, dozens of Green Bay residents are taking their ideas to City Council chambers.
Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt and city aldermen heard 16 different proposals, some asking for just portions of the roughly $5 million the city is set to receive.
Others are asking for a bigger chunk, while promising a big return.
The struggle is fitting their plans for Green Bay, and Brown County, into at least one of three approved categories: property tax relief, debt reduction, and economic development.
"And.. a stadium, in our opinion, can serve as a catalyst to help make it a more interesting place," says Big Top Baseball president Vern Stenman, whose company would like to see an outdoor event center at the intersection of Mason Street and Broadway Avenue.
"[It would] bring restaurants, attract bars," says Stenman, "create some life and some energy on that part of Broadway that's not currently there."
"I think that's something that's pretty high on my list," adds Schmitt.
Stenman's group is currently asking for $4 million, which is much of the revenue the city is set to receive.
"I think that needs to be vetted a little bit more," says Schmitt, "but it's worked in other communities. It can work down here, in Green Bay, as well."
Street repairs, and investments in city neighborhoods, also topped the list tonight.
"If we feel good about our neighborhoods, we feel good about the city of Green Bay," says Dan Theno, of the Oak Grove Neighborhood Association.
City leaders say there could be room for combining certain projects going forward.
Mayor Schmitt plans to have another public hearing, much like tonight, with the same goals, sometime in January.
Narrowed-down ideas could be presented to a Council committee as early as February.
