Former justice to mediate war memorial, museum talks

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Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske will mediate the dispute between the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center and Milwaukee Art Museum over who will control their shared building.

Geske said Friday she hopes to meet with each side within a week.

The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors asked her to broker an agreement by Feb. 19, she said, and to send the written agreement to the board’s Parks, Energy and Environment Committee on March 12.

That’s a tight time frame, she said, but negotiations began in May, so a lot of points already are hammered out.

“Sometimes,” she said, “the shorter times put a little more pressure on parties.”

Milwaukee County Board chairwoman Marina Dmitrijevic said the deadline was adequate, because the two sides have already worked out the bulk of a deal.

“They agree on a lot,” she said, “so it’s just working out this last issue that’s created the impasse.”

She declined to describe the details of that impasse, though Dan Keegan, museum director, has attributed it to a contested parcel of land used as a parking lot, among other things.

The memorial and museum share a home on the lakefront, and the memorial traditionally has controlled the building. But the museum wants that control so it can protect its artwork.

On Jan. 29, David Kurtz, lead negotiator for the memorial, claimed the art museum had left the negotiating table.

Keegan denied that claim. The art museum decided not to respond to the memorial’s most recent offer, Keegan said, because it became evident negotiations were no longer moving forward.

The memorial delivered that offer to the museum Jan. 11, and the museum sent a letter dated Jan. 17 to County Executive Chris Abele asking him to help appoint a mediator.

Kurtz said the memorial is pleased Geske is involved.

“We never put down our tools,” he said, “and we would like the art museum to come back to the table.”

Ken Krei, lead negotiator for the art museum, could not be immediately reached for comment. A spokeswoman for Krei said that the museum was pleased Geske would step in to mediate.