GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – As UW-Green Bay celebrates the $96 million included in the state budget to replace the Cofrin Library, it appears there could be an unintended multi-million dollar add-on.
A 911 tower that sits on top of the eight-story building will need to be replaced and right now there isn’t a plan to pay for it.
The tower is one of seven in Brown County’s 911 system.
“Each tower is integral into the system as a whole,” said Cullen Peltier, Brown County Director of Public Safety Communications. “So, if they take down the library, we’re going to have some issues. We’re going to have to look at a replacement location for one, a temporary location maybe, but what’s going to happen is we’re going to take that one tower out of the system, so that particular area is going to lose some coverage.”
How much coverage will be lost and for how long isn’t known. However, early estimates to replace the tower are up to $5 million.
FOX 11 asked Gov. Tony Evers whether the state or the county will be covering the cost.
“That is a great question. I don’t know the answer to that right now. Certainly, considering this is a $96 million project and it’s going to take a couple years, we’ve got some time to figure that out.”
County officials say paying for the tower project starts now with the need to do an engineering study. It’s work that isn’t in the budget.
“Our cost for just general maintenance are very high to begin with so to add more costs on the taxpayers of Brown County, we really don’t want to do that at this point,” said Peltier.
“We’re going to work with the county obviously every step of the way, all of our local officials, to make sure we’re doing the right thing for everybody in Northeast Wisconsin as we go through this process,” said Michael Alexander, UW-Green Bay’s chancellor.
So far there is no timeline for when the library or the 911 tower could be coming down or when construction on their replacements will begin.
The county says it’s ruled out most other buildings on campus to put the tower either permanently or temporarily. The new library, which is expected to be four or five stories tall, likely won’t be high enough for the new tower either.
