Ironwood City Commission looks towards future

By TOM LAVENTURE

[email protected]

Ironwood — The Ironwood City Commission held its first meeting since the Nov. 5 election, where all five members were re-elected.

The meeting started with the commission accepting the city clerk’s report of the Gogebic County Board of Canvassers that certified the election results on Nov. 6. The candidates took the oath of office.

Annette Burchell remains mayor as the candidate who received the most votes, with Kim Corcoran named mayor pro tem with the second high vote total. Joseph Cayer, Jim Mildren and Rick Semo also regained their commission seats.

The commissioners took a moment to acknowledge Veterans Day. They thanked the city staff for the past two years and said they look forward to working to help the city move forward.

“I want to thank all of you and the other candidates who were willing to put themselves out there to serve on the commission,” Burchell said.

Burchell also said the lesson from the campaign and from the four challengers was that the commission needs to improve communication with the community. She recommended that a committee form to work on how do best move forward.

The commission approved the re-appointment of Scott Erickson as city manager; Karen Gullan as city clerk; Paul Linn as city finance director and treasurer; Timothy Dean as the city’s attorney and Dennis Hewitt as the city assessor.

In the city manger’s report, Erickson said the city is currently undergoing an audit and expects the process to be completed by the end of November. A report will be submitted to the commission.

Commissioner Semo asked Erickson to address the city’s relationship with Virginia Tech Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He said a resident had called to ask if the city was accepting help from the university’s water quality program.

Erickson said the city has been in communication with Virginia Tech and that the university has noted its expertise is with water chemistry. The city would seek out Virginia Tech as a paid consultant in areas that the university said it could assist with in the process of developing the preliminary engineering process with the engineering firm that will eventually be selected to design the purification plant that best fits Ironwood’s water system.

“We view that as value added,” Erickson said.

The commission assigned commissioner board appointments:

—Gogebic- Iron Wastewater Authority and Board — Rick Semo with Jim Mildren as alternate;

—Planning Commission — Joseph Cayer

—Pat O’Donnell Civic Center — Jim Mildren

—Park & Recreation — Kim Corcoran

—Historic Ironwood Theatre — Rick Semo

—Ironwood Carnegie Library — Kim Corcoran

—Downtown Ironwood Development Authority — Annette Burchell

In other business, the commission approved:

—The commission rules.

—Designation of IncredibleBank as the city depository.

—The city’s official newspaper as the Daily Globe.

—The city’s official radio stations as WJMS-WIMI and WUPM-WHRY.