Dark Stores, County Road 595 featured at retirees meeting

MARQUETTE — The Lake Superior Chapter of the State Employee Retirees Association (SERA) held its annual fall meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Marquette Holiday Inn.

Along with electing board members, those who attended the meeting received updates on a couple of key U.P. topics. Retirees heard from the Marquette County Road Commission about the status of County Road 595 and the latest on the dark store issues.

Construction of the road is being held up due to court proceedings between the road commission and the Environmental Protection Agency. For many of those in attendance, the presentations gave them the best opportunity to hear about the issues at hand.

“We are the people who breathe the fumes of the trucks that run through the city and we are the people whose taxes we believe are being squandered by not building 595 by making those trucks go all around and use up gasoline and diesel fuel,” said Tony Grudnoski, SERA Chapter President.

“We just think it’s a waste of time and effort. We’re generally opposed to what the EPA is telling us we need to do in our backyard,” added Grudnoski.