MARINETTE (NBC 26) — The future of the UWGB, Marinette campus is uncertain, said Marinette County Administrator John Lefebvre. Marinette County owns the campus.
- UW-Green Bay previously announced that in-person classes would end at the UWGB, Marinette campus as of this fall
- The future of the campus, which is owned by Marinette County, is uncertain, the county administrator said
- Marinette's mayor spoke with NBC 26 about whether the City is interested in owning some or all of the campus
(The following is a transcript of the broadcast story.)
The future of this campus is a question.
But Ron Cook has been part of its past.
"I remember when it was being built, I was a kid..." [said Cook].
His connection to the campus continued.
He says he and his wife took classes here.
And for the last five years, he and his dog have spent time in the waterfront park on campus.
We asked him what he'd like to see happen with the campus.
"At a minimum, you hope this park remains open?" [reporter Jon Erickson asked].
"Oh yeah, the whole area, a lot of people use it," [Cook said].
UWGB says in-person classes [at the Marinette campus] will end this fall.
Marinette County owns the campus, and the county administrator says the future of the campus is in limbo.
[County Administator John Lefebvre told NBC 26] that in a meeting last month, the County Board did not vote to hand the campus over to the City of Marinette.
We talked with Marinette's mayor about the future of the campus, which is within Marinette city limits.
"You mentioned the possibility of city hall moving into the building behind us?" [reporter Jon Erickson asked Marinette Mayor Steve Genisot].
"We've briefly brought up discussion, we're going to have a more formal discussion next week, with Common Council. City hall, possibly, we've talked about maybe police department, and senior center, but those are all to-be-vetted-out yet to see what might work," [Genisot said].
Even when the in-person classes end, the University does plan to continue to invest in the theater [on campus], and offer events and performances.
The county administrator says the annual maintenance costs for the campus are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the County Board would have to find money in its budget to pay those costs.
