Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
Bessemer — Having pledged to support the effort to keep the Ojibway prison in Marenisco from closing, the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners Tuesday agreed to spend $25,000 to help cover costs of a lawsuit.
Marenisco Township Supervisor Richard Bouvette said a judge still has not ruled on the lawsuit that is attempting to block the prison from closing.
A letter has been sent requesting the judge make a decision, Bouvette said. Up until now, “They didn’t want to poke the bear,” he said.
If the prison is completely closed on Dec. 2, as the Michigan Department of Corrections plans, Bouvette fears the water tower and infrastructure will freeze.
He said he hopes newly elected Governor Gretchen Whitmer will be of assistance.
“We may lose,” Bouvette said of the suit, but with $60 million to the Gogebic County economy at stake and people moving out every day, it’s a chance that has to be taken, he said.
The legal bill for September was around $50,000 and October will be around $20,000, Bouvette said, with one attorney making $330 an hour.
Commissioners earlier pledged to financially help out Marenisco with the lawsuit and they agreed Tuesday to keep their word and make the one-time payment from the county of $25,000.
County board members earlier contended they had the rug pulled out from under them when the closure was announced before they had a chance to meet with officials downstate. Bouvette repeated that claim, saying, “They closed before we could get to Lansing.”
The suit seeks an area economic impact study, since more than 200 employees are affected.
A previous resolution approved by the county board says the Ojibway facility is “one of the most efficiently operated” among the MDOC and notes the payroll “has a very large economic impact on the county.”
The resolution opposing the closure was sent to Gov. Rick Snyder and MDOC Director Heidi Washington.
U.P. county boards supported it.