Neville director search suspended Gabe Luke of Appleton leaves the Neville Public Museum via the top of a wall in this file photo from October 2000 (photo by Tina Gohr). The county may seek someone with more of a marketing background By K. Drewieske and W. Bluhm News-Chronicle SUAMICO - The search for a new Neville Public Museum executive director is on hold while Brown County rewrites the position's job description. Sources familiar with the process said this week that county administrators hope to find someone who is more marketing oriented than in the past, in order to attract more people to visit the museum along the Fox River in downtown Green Bay. The director's post has been vacant for nearly two years, and three other key positions also remain open - curator of art, curator of exhibits and recorder. That amounts to about one-third of the Neville's staff. "All it takes is for someone else to take a job elsewhere, and they'll be in real trouble," said one county employee who asked not to be identified. "This has gone on so long, they're being so transparent it's almost comical." James Kalny, the county's human resources director, did not immediately return a call Thursday. The director and art curator jobs were posted earlier this year, but no one has been offered either position, and candidates for director have been notified the county is "reviewing the responsibilities of the position." Meanwhile, the county's Education & Recreation Committee Thursday recommended contributing up to $5,000 or half the cost of a community survey asking about the future of the museum, and committee members seemed reluctant to push ahead with hiring anyone before the survey is completed. "It's difficult to hire a director, without a sense of direction," Sup. Kathy Johnson said during the meeting at Barkhausen Nature Preserve. Johnson is also a member of the Museum Governing Board. Sup. Dave Hansen, chairman of the committee, agreed, saying to hire a curator and not know the museum's mission is kind of backwards. The survey is expected to be ready in about two months if the County Board approves the expenditure April 17. The group conducting the survey would poll 500 people in Brown County, both urban and rural areas. Johnson said the museum needs some sense of stability. "I felt we owed it to the county, corporations and taxpayers to contribute to the survey," she said, adding the County Board needs to find out what citizens would like to see from the museum that they might not be seeing now, and what direction the museum should go. "It seems like we're in limbo now," Johnson said. "We have this jewel of a commodity in our community, what would we like to see?" Sup. Kevin Kuehn said it will be important to implement what the survey results dictate, even if board members don't like the responses that come back. Kramer Rock, president of the Neville Museum Corp. board and vice chairman to the Museum Governing Board, told the committee the survey would find out, first of all, if people want a museum - he believes that most people would answer "yes" without even thinking. He added the really tough question for most people is who should pay for it. Sup. Ron Antonneau said if the museum can attract more visitors, it could benefit the rest of downtown Green Bay. LIBRARY HOURS TO BE CUT Brown County Director of Libraries Pat LaViolette told the committee that this summer, branches will be going back to the hours they were open in summer of 1999. Last year, the libraries were open the same hours in winter and summer. An arbitrator ruled against the expanded hours in a dispute over contract language with the union that represents library employees. LaViolette originally made the decision to keep the libraries open the same hours all year because the amount of special programs held and employee vacation times did not significantly change from one season to the next. LaViolette said the problem boiled down to a difference of opinion on the language of the contracts. Kuehn said that in the future, it is critical to have good contract language so there will be no more misunderstandings. Members of the committee said the decision hurts not only the public but also employees who may not get as many hours as they want. The employees contracts will be renegotiated at the end of the year. LaViolette said they will try to rectify the problem then. Weyers-Hilliard Library in Howard, the branch library most affected by the decision, will be open about 24 fewer hours per week this summer.