The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors approved of the outright purchase of the UW Oshkosh Fox Cities campus Tuesday night, meaning that Outagamie County gives up their share of the property that was originally owned by both counties.
Winnebago County Corporation Counsel Mary Ann Mueller said that the decision is the first step in saving the childcare center on the Fox Cities campus, which is set to close June 20.
“The bottom line is, families who have been informed of this situation are facing a prospect without daycare in essentially two months,” Mueller said. “There are 25 families, and 30 children, who will be without daycare. [This decision] is actually going to make things easier, because instead of dealing with two county boards [to make decisions] we will be dealing with one county board … This is an agreement that will try to get this [childcare] deal completed.”
The decision to buy the UWO Fox Cities campus in Menasha for $1 was approved 28-5 by the board of supervisors, with one abstention. Winnebago County will take control of the Barlow Planetarium, performing arts center, childcare center, art gallery, community garden and any property left behind by the Universities of Wisconsin after the campus is shut down by the Board of Regents on June 30.
The Weis Earth Science Museum collection will be taken over by Outagamie County as part of the agreement, and all of its exhibits will be donated to the History Museum at the Castle in downtown Appleton.
Donald Mikulic, who has worked at the Weis Earth Science Museum for the last 24 years, said he was opposed to the vote because it hands the museum’s collection to a different establishment.
“The Weis is a unique museum. It doesn’t exist anywhere else in the state,” Mikulic said. “There’s 161, at a minimum, historic museums in the state. Why are we giving something unique to just another historical museum?”
Mikulic said that museum staff had been kept in the dark over the plans to relocate the collection.
“Basically, all of this has been planned out in secret,” he said. “They were planning it as recently as last week. [Outagamie] county had another closed session discussing this. They never reached out to the museum or its staff. They didn’t ask what we do or how we do it. They have no idea of what is going on there. They also do not understand the uniqueness and importance of the relationship between the collection and the Weis museum, which will not exist anymore.”
Board member Steve Binder said at first he was in full support of the decision, but changed his mind after hearing the people’s thoughts during the public comments section of the meeting.
“We can say we’re getting the Barlow and the performing arts center, but it all comes at a cost,” Binder said. “Our facility records keeper told us that facility costs $800,000 just to maintain it for a year. We have no money coming in.”
Binder said that once the county takes over the property on July 1, it will add expenses for Winnebago County.
“Outagamie County sold us the Tri-County Ice Arena for a dollar and we’re still dealing with that,” he said. “They’re going to walk away with a collection that they are going to put in an art museum, and they’re headaches are done. Our headaches are just beginning on July 1.”
The deal states that Winnebago County must operate the property that the UWO Fox Cities campus sits on for “public benefit” for two years. The county can lease the property to third parties for non-public use, but any revenue generated from a lease must be used to improve the land. Winnebago County is allowed to sell the land, but it must split any surplus money with Outagamie County that is not being used to improve the site.
The next Winnebago County board meeting will be held on April 22 at the Winnebago County Courthouse at 3 p.m.
