GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – As officials with the City of Green Bay and Brown County gather Tuesday night, intense discussions are expected with hopes of reaching an agreement over the hiring process for the next executive director of the Neville Public Museum.
It’s a topic that has garnered much attention from both sides, as the position has been left unfilled since former Executive Director Beth Kowalski left in mid-September 2025.
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The city is holding Tuesday night’s meeting to tell the county that they need to find a replacement soon to allow more exhibits and events to be properly planned and executed.
Supervisors with Brown County are disgruntled with the city, as the county owns the museum and is set to help make the final decision on the hiring process for the new executive director.
Brown County Supervisor Patrick Evans said he has confidence that cooler heads will prevail for a decision to be made.
“The resolution that the city council has states that Brown County needs to go out and get a new director and do all these other things, which really upset many, many supervisors,” said Evans. “I have been working with different aldermen, and I think we can come to a resolution Tuesday night.”
Other possible options are being explored for the museum as well to increase foot traffic and continue being a historic piece of Green Bay.
That could lead to the potential of bringing the Green Bay Children’s Museum under the same roof as the Neville, something that Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach is looking at.
In a statement to Local 5, Streckenbach said:
“Brown County has had some high-level talks with several community partners as the search for the Neville Public Museum’s next executive director continues. We’re doing proper due diligence. Our goal is to determine if there’s a partnership that can take place that would enhance the Neville as a tourist destination, creating a cultural campus downtown, thus raising the level of its long-term fiscal stability.”
Green Bay 7th District Alderperson Alyssa Proffitt said in a statement to Local 5 about the potential bringing in of the Children’s Museum:
“I’m looking forward to additional conversations with active community involvement and input prior to any major shifts in what the Neville means for our community.”
Evans is open to any proposals brought to the table but wants the Neville to continue being a museum for Green Bay.
“Neville is staying where it’s at. It will not be privatized. We will have a new qualified director, meaning a minimum of a master’s of museum science, because we need to maintain our accreditation,” said Evans. “And I will not turn the Neville into Chuck E. Cheese — it’s a museum, not a playground.”
Evans said a main reason for this becoming a known issue stems from rumors.
“Rumors have been circulating: ‘Oh, the Neville is closing. Oh, it’s being sold. Oh, it’s moving downtown in Green Bay.’ None of those are true — none of them. But they’ve made some people very nervous because these rumors just spread.”
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“So the City of Green Bay decided, ‘No, we want to tell the county what to do.’ They want to keep a director — okay, that’s great, get a director. But the county board then said, ‘Don’t tell us what we’re doing. You have your own problems in the city; we have our own problems in the county. We’ll manage this,'” said Evans.
The meeting is just one start in making sure that the next executive director is set up for success for years to come.
