By Ryan Spoehr - March 11th 2024
JANESVILLE
The Rock County Board on Thursday will consider giving $500,000 in COVID-19-era American Rescue Plan Act relief funds to the capital campaign for the planned Rock County Children’s Museum.
A resolution approved Monday by the county board’s Staff Committee is scheduled for discussion and potential approval by the county board’s Finance Committee and then by the full board on Thursday.
The Finance Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. in the fourth-floor jury deliberation room of the Rock County Courthouse, 51 S. Main St., Janesville. The full Rock County Board meets at 6 p.m. or immediately after Finance Committee meeting.
The resolution to be considered Thursday, proposed by Supervisor Chris Cullen, cites the planned museum’s “many benefits to the residents of Rock County” and makes a “broad appeal for those interested in children at play, early childhood development, downtown redevelopment, economic development and historic preservation.”
However, Supervisor Mary Mawhinney, who sits on the staff and finance committees, told The Gazette Monday that she does not support the resolution.
“There’s more ways,” to raise the needed funds for the children’s museum, said Mawhinney, who voted against the resolution before the Staff Committee.
“When Milton and Whitewater did their libraries for their kids, and they went out and got community support for it. I’m not seeing that here,” Mawhinney said.
As of March 7, about $5.7 million had been raised, Capital Campaign Chair John Westphal told The Gazette.
If the children’s museum receives the $500,000, that will bring the county’s small business grants budget to $2.7 million. The county board has already allocated $500,000 of ARPA funds in the 2024 budget toward the Beloit Public Library.
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