Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By TOM LAVENTURE
Voters in the cities of Bessemer, Ironwood and Wakefield will choose their city councils and commissions, along with city and countywide ballot proposals in the Nov. 2 general election.
The county’s township voters selected their respective town councils in the 2020 general election. However, there is the county ambulance millage renewal proposal to consider in this election.
All county voters will have the ballot proposal with the heading “Emergency Medical Service Renewal/Restoration.” The proposal would authorize the county to continue a 0.9951 mill levy ($0.9951 for each $1,000 of property taxable value) from 2022 to 2024. The levy is to supplement countywide emergency medical care, equipment, training and other related expenses for emergency medical purposes in conjunction with ambulance services.
Voters approved the three-year, 1 mill levy for ambulance services in 2018. The levy was the county’s effort to prevent Beacon Ambulance Service from ceasing countywide operations due to reported financial losses, according to previous news stories, and resulted with the continuance of countywide ambulance services in combination with negotiating payment schedules with local governmental units into the county sharing costs.
If approved, the mill levy is estimated to raise approximately $554,426 in 2022.
City of Bessemer
There are seven candidates seeking the five seats of the Bessemer City Council. Voters will be asked to select up to five candidates in a nonpartisan election.
The candidates include incumbents Rob Coleman, Terry Kryshak, Bill McDonald, Linda Nelson and Adam Zak, along with new candidates Jim Prezkop and Charles Tirpik.
A 8th candidate, Suzanne Marie Brown is a registered write-in candidate who will not appear on the ballot.
Bessemer voters will have six city questions on the ballot in addition to the countywide ambulance millage question.
Proposal No. 1 is a charter amendment that would allow the city Board of Review to hold organizational meetings on the Tuesday following the first Monday in March in order to comply with Michigan laws.
If approved, the Board of Review would hold a minimum of two meetings during the second week of March, with the first meeting on the second Monday in March. The meetings would be a minimum of six hours on the first day and a minimum of 12 hours total in that week, with three hours occurring after 6 p.m.
Proposal No. 2 is a charter amendment to increase the time allowed to fill any city vacancy, elective or appointive office other than city manager or city attorney from 30 days to 90 days. The change allows more time to advertise and interview potential candidates for recommendations to the city council.
Proposal No. 3 is a charter amendment that would allow the salaries of the city manager and city attorney to be set by a majority of the city council. The salaries are currently set by ordinance, which is a cumbersome and antiquated process that requires more than two council meetings and a public hearing, according to Charly Loper, city manager.
Proposal No. 4 is a charter amendment that would change the number of days to make draft meeting minutes available for public inspection from 15 days to eight days in order to comply with Michigan laws. The amendment would also require approved copies of the minutes within five business days after approval at a city council meeting.
Proposal No. 5 is a charter amendment that will amend the Bessemer City Charter in order to replace gender-specific pronouns where not appropriate. The purpose is to replace current charter language that contains masculine pronouns such as “he,” “him,” and “his” with non-gendered terms.
Proposal No. 6 is a charter amendment addressing an antiquated civil service exam requirement for positions that no longer use them as a prerequisite, according to Loper. The amendment merely deletes a sentence in Section 7.14.
City of Ironwood
The city of Ironwood, in both precinct one and precinct two, will have the city commissioners election and the county ambulance question on the ballot.
There are seven candidates who are seeking the five seats on the Ironwood City Commission. Mayor Annette Burchell is not seeking reelection.
Incumbent city commission members Joseph Cayer, Kim Corcoran, Jim Mildren and Rick Semo are running for reelection. Other candidates on the ballot include David Andresen, Nancy Korpela and Dan Wood.
An eighth candidate, Ryan Gobats, had 24 of the minimum 25 signatures required to qualify for the ballot and has filed to run as a write-in candidate with the Gogebic County Clerk’s office.
The nonpartisan city commission seats are elected at large with no specific districts. There is no primary election and the top five candidates in the runoff election will be sworn in prior to the Nov. 8 regular meeting of the city commission.
City of Wakefield
There are five candidates who are seeking five open seats on the Wakefield City Council.
Current council member Kay Wiita is not running for reelection. Incumbent members James Anderson, Scott Heikkila, Amy Farro and Dale White are all running for reelection along with newcomer candidate Calvin Shirkey.
The city of Wakefield will have two ballot proposal questions in addition to the county ambulance millage question.
Proposal No. 1 is a charter amendment for compensation of council members. If approved, the city would increase the meeting remuneration for council members from $20 to $40 per meeting. The city approved the $20 meeting pay on Nov. 6, 1990, according to Wakefield City Clerk Susan Ahonen.
Proposal No. 2 is to authorize the city to sell a non-buildable portion of Eddy Park for a minimum of $10,000. The section of property is located south of Chicago Mine Road, and extends to the Wanink property to the east, and approximately 72 feet west of the city driveway.
Approval of the land sale requires approval from three-fifths of the citizens who vote on Nov. 2. If approved, the buyer would be responsible for land splits and surveys.
Iron County
There are no office or ballot election items for Iron County, Wisconsin towns or cities this November, according to the county clerk’s office.