Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By P.J. GLISSON
Hurley — At a Tuesday evening meeting, members of the Iron County Board of Supervisors voted to approve a resolution that will formulate a county forest law withdrawal application in relation to a pending land exchange between Iron County and Paul DeRosso of Oma.
As part of the resolution, DeRosso will pay for a related survey, and Iron County will enroll into the county’s forest program about 33 acres of land from section 20 in Mercer, so as to replace the county forest lost from land that is expected to be legally allotted to DeRosso.
Prior to the board’s action, the Iron County Forestry & Parks Committee addressed the matter in a Dec. 13 meeting last year.
As reported in those meeting minutes, “Paul DeRosso explained in 1981 he purchased 17.1 acres from Iron County near the gravel pit in the town of Oma. In 2017, Todd Maki (of) Maki Land Surveying installed the corner markers. This resulted in the property line moving 260+ feet south from what (the DeRossos) understood they purchased in 1981.”
The minutes add that Forest Administrator Eric Peterson confirmed the completion of that survey and further state that, before the survey, “Gary Glonek, retired forester, had raised concerns that the lines may not be accurate in that area.”
Nevertheless, the minutes state that the property DeRosso believes is rightfully his own “is enrolled in county forest and ownership can’t simply be transferred.”
On Jan. 31, the Iron County Board of Supervisors voted to have Peterson submit an application for removal of 10 acres that DeRosso claims should be his land from the county forest and allow County Board Chairman Joseph Pinardi and Tim Dean of Dean Law Office in Ironwood “to negotiate with the DeRosso family on access to the gravel pit and new property lines.”
DeRosso had reported during the Dec. 13 meeting that access to the gravel pit was no longer allowed through his property.
In other news during Tuesday’s meeting, the board voted to approve a resolution amending Title 7 of the Iron County Floodplain Ordinance.
Gerry Nasi, assistant zoning administrator in the county’s Department of Comprehensive Planning, Land & Zoning, informed that the final draft reflected a few refinements.
He said the language on cranberry farms had been removed because — even though the county has two cranberry farms — the language is not needed for farms that already exist.
Nasi, who told the board that prior paper maps were “wildly inaccurate” compared to the digital technology now available, told The Globe after the meeting, “This is really going to be a good thing.”
The board also:
—Witnessed new Commissioner Kurt Wolff sworn in by City Clerk Michael Saari. Pinardi appointed Wolff to replace Ann McComas, who resigned for personal reasons, to represent the town of Sherman.
—Voted to hire Lisa Zanella of Pence as a part-time cleaning person for the county’s satellite buildings. She will be paid 20 hours per week at $16 per hour. Although the position is newly created, Pinardi said the expense will be no more than what the county now contracts for the work and assured that Zanella had been recommended as “an excellent person.”
—Learned that the Finance Committee, which Pinardi said also acts as the Personnel Committee, hired Sara Pelkowski of Mercer for a part-time child care position during a Feb. 9 meeting that included interviews of Pelkowski and three other candidates.
—Voted to adopt the 2022 annual report for the Iron County Forestry and Parks Department, as approved by the Iron County Forestry Committee, whose members include Chair Thomas Thompson, Jr .; Vice Chair Scott Erickson; and members William Thomas, John Sendra and Patrick Hanson.
—Heard Hanson, who chairs the Gogebic-Iron County Airport Board, report of the airport: “We’re doing very good, considering the kind of weather we’ve had. The guys are doing a good job of keeping the runways clean. We’ve only had a couple cancellations.” He said the airport board meeting time is now 3 p.m. on the second Monday of each month.
—Voted to approve for 2023 an emergency fire warden list, including Bob Walesewicz of Hurley, Bambi McQueary of Mercer and Stacey Ofstad of Saxon.
—Voted to approve a resolution to authorize a rise in the civil service process fee from $12 to $35 per person, for each of up to three tries at serving, in addition to the current IRS rate of mileage.
The board’s next regular meeting will be on March 28 at 6 p.m. in the board room of the Iron County Courthouse.
