Marquette Co. Board holds first meeting of 2014

The Marquette County Board of Commissioners held its first meeting of the new year Tuesday night.

The board approved contracts for the county’s senior centers.  Allocation funds for the centers increased by at least 5%, and have been increasing for the past six years.

“Another 4.5% increase for the senior centers…we’ve done–Sue (Vercoe) and Commissioner (Bruce) Heikklia–done a remarkable job, our commission on Aging Advising Committee to get the money where it needs to be over the last several years,” Marquette County Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Debbie Pellow said.

The board also approved an aircraft emergency response agreement at Sawyer International Airport.  The lease allows emergency responders from parts of Marquette County to help in the event of a crash on the runway.

“(The lease agreement) is a real important aspect of the airport,” Marquette County Administrator Scott Erbisch said.  “They (emergency responders) bring a lot of other bodies when we’ve had incidents out there (at Sawyer).”

“Forsyth (Township) has been…if you recall, almost a year and a half ago we had a bomb threat out there, and it was primarily Forsyth Township (helping).  We had a very limited staff at the airport and they were controlling traffic, helping with the entrance and everything in the facilities.  They spend many, many hours out there…they really bring a lot to the table.”

Gerry Corkin and Debbie Pellow were re–elected to the positions of Board Chairman and Vice Chairman, respectively.