County board hears opposition to road office move to Ironwood

By RALPH ANSAMI

[email protected]

Bessemer — The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners Wednesday discussed a letter from Watersmeet Supervisor Mike Rogers requesting the road commission locate its operations in Marenisco.

Rogers said a central location in the county would be better than building new facilities in the Ironwood Industrial Park, as has been proposed.

“The idea that a new building would be built on the far western part of the county doesn’t make a lot of sense in terms of logistics,” Rogers wrote.

He said Marenisco has the land and utilities for a new operation. That fact was noted in a recent letter from Marenisco Supervisor Richard Bouvette.

Rogers also questioned the costs of cleaning up the road commission’s site in Bessemer.

The road commission has agreed to purchase about 13 acres in Ironwood’s industrial park for construction of a new main facility. The city commission approved sale of 13 acres to the road commission on a 4-1 vote, with Joseph Cayer Jr. opposed.

All of the operations of the road commission, including offices for the administrative staff, would be relocated in the move from Bessemer to Ironwood.

The parcel is located on the south side of Liberty Street, between land owned by Xcel Energy and Basom Trucking.

Road commission plans call for retaining present satellite garages in Watersmeet and Marenisco.

County board chairman George Peterson, of Watersmeet, said Wednesday the road commission plans on forming a committee to address moving from the Bessemer site, what the costs would entail and who will pay for it.

County clerk Gerry Pelissero said the county owns the jail-sheriff’s department building and the adjacent property, while the road commission owns the parcel on the other side of the road.

In January of 2017, the city of Bessemer’s planning commission heard plans from the road commission for a 46,000-square-foot facility that would cost around $4.7 million. The buildings were to be located on the south side of U.S. 2, on Bessemer’s west side. There was opposition to that location on several fronts, however, and the plans fell through.

The Gogebic County Road Commission is governed by a five-member board and its budget and finances are separate from the county budget.