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Work on Jail Proposal Resumes – Houghton County Board Meeting Wrap

The proposed Houghton County Jail project has been slowed down, but it hasn’t completely stopped.

Former undersheriff Roy Britz told his fellow county commissioners last night that one of the reasons for the pause had been concern about the sheriff’s race in the August primary…

“We decided to wait for the election to see who won the sheriff’s race. One of the candidates was speaking that he was not in favor of a jail.”

With the primary past, Britz said a meeting was held last week with the owner of the property on Hougton’s south side that has been targeted as the best possible location. Discussions will continue as to the possibility of the county purchasing an option to buy the land. Commissioner Gretchen Janssen noted that one of the next steps will be an environmental review of the property by the state…

“Wetlands, primarily, to make sure the spot is not just buildable, but that we’re not building where we shouldn’t be building because of the environment.”

A full proposal for the new jail and District Court can’t be completed until the site has been locked in.

Jeff Ratcliffe from the Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance asked the board for financial support for a promotional campaign to encourage safe COVID-19 practices that’s being developed by his and several other pro-business organizations…

“We need to start to remind everyone here – visitors coming in, residents that are here, new students coming in – that, if we can all be safe, we can keep our economy open.”

Ratcliffe and other business community leaders remain concerned that the rising number of COVID-19 diagnoses in our region will push us out of Phase Five of the MI Safe Start Plan, and into the more restrictive Phase Four. Commissioners said they were not in a position to make an immediate allocation, but will consider it.

The County Board went on record supporting the proposed development of a space launch facility in Marquette County. Commissioner Tom Tikkanen said there would be a direct financial boost to the central U.P…

“Economic impact as felt within operation of that facility would be about $8 million, creating anywhere from 500 to 1,000 jobs.”

Tikkanen also thinks the Copper Country would benefit…

“…because of Michigan Tech’s intimate involvement with NASA. You’ll probably see some of our light manufacturing facilities here benefit from it.”

The resolution originated with Michigan Works.

Board members closed the meeting by saluting longtime county administrator Eric Forsburg, whose retirement is imminent.

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