7-member Fair Board down to 3

By PAMELA JANSSON

[email protected]

Bessemer — At their most recent meeting, members of the Gogebic County Board of Commissioners acted not to reappoint three members of the Gogebic County Fair Board.

The Nov. 20 action actually was a lack of action in that a motion by Commissioner James Byrns to accept the reappointments of Quinlan (“Tom”) Hampston, Melinda Kostac and Linda Nelson died for lack of a second.

“If we don’t act, the terms expire,” said James Lorenson, who chairs the county board and also is a member of the Fair Board.

The terms expired on Sunday.

Stephanie Matonich of Bessemer also had applied to the Fair Board, but the board did not consider her application because it did not arrive on time.

As a result of the action, the Fair Board — which normally has seven members — is left with only three: Lorenson, Holly Ramme and Shelley Suckow. Byrns, formerly the Fair Board chairman, had resigned from the board in recent months.

Board members did not discuss the action, which was questioned by Ed Lakner of Ironwood during the public comment session. “What’s that all about?” asked Lakner.

The Globe also requested a reason for not supporting Byrns’ motion.

“I’’ll leave that up to the individual commissioners,” said Lorenson, but none of the commissioners spoke. Joseph Bonovetz and George Peterson III were absent.

In the days after the meeting, The Globe spoke by phone with Hampston, Nelson and Kostac. Byrns did not return phone messages.

“I just feel sad for the county that both boards can’t work together,” said Hampston, who had been on the Fair Board for more than a decade.

“I was blindsided, to say the least,” said Kostac. “I literally have no clue what’s going on. It was very upsetting.”

She has been volunteering at every fair for the past 30 years, but she rallied more so around Nelson and Hampston.

“They lost a lot by losing those two,” said Kostac of the board’s decision not to reappoint her colleagues. “Tom knows the fairgrounds inside and out.”

Kostac added of Nelson, “She’s the energizer bunny, to begin with,” and also credited her with raising $36,000 to fund the 2023 rodeo at no cost to the county.

“It’s very, very frustrating,” said Nelson, who just finished her first three-year term on the Fair Board but who everyone agrees has been a highly active member.

She added while referring to herself in the third person, “I think the reason they got rid of Linda is Linda is not a yes person. Linda is a go-getter.”

She also said of county board members, “They don’t like my strong personality” and “They can’t stand that I question things.”

Nelson said she believes Lorenson thinks she overstepped her bounds in her recent attempts to lure a carnival to the 2025 county fair. Nelson said she never promised anything but did ask one company, hypothetically, whether it would consider providing carnival service if the county could offer $50,000.

Both Hampston and Kostac said the county board also has not yet acted to hire a fairground coordinator since Marlene Saari resigned from that position nearly a year ago. County administrator Juliane Giackino has been substituting in that role as much as possible.

“They’re stretching her too thin,” said Kostac of Giackino.

Hampston said hiring someone to replace Saari would allow for that person to market the fairgrounds as a year-round facility.

Nelson also noted that even the job of a Fair Board member is “a lot of work,” thus requiring people “who’ve got their heart and soul in it.”

She said she’s been involved with the fair since she was eight years old and since then has been a 4-H leader, director of horse shows and a member of the local horse council.

In her letter requesting reappointment, she mentioned several means by which she saved the county tens of thousands of dollars for each of the recent fairs.

Lorenson was not willing to speak on the record regarding his own reasons for not supporting the reappointments, but he said much of it comes down to issues of personnel policy and personality.

He said the county board now is advertising for new applicants on the Fair Board.

Lorenson added that county board members may address the issue again at the start of the new year when a new board will be sworn in. Byrns is leaving the board, along with Bonovetz, Robert Orlich and Thomas Laabs. New members will be Pete Matonich of Bessemer; Michael Yon of Wakefield; and Dan Wood and Joseph Cayer, both of Ironwood. Lorenson, Peterson and Dan Siirila will remain.

“I can’t speak for them either,” said Lorenson of new members.

In other news, the board also approved a payment of $10,000 to the Western Upper Peninsula Planning and Development Region as compensation for its role as a designated planning agency in the county’s agreement to join a multi-county materials management system to address solid waste. Jerald Wuorenmaa, executive director of WUPPDR, had made the request in a Nov. 14 letter to Lorenson. He explained that pending grant funds ultimately will reimburse the expense.

Board members also:

— Approved the appointment of Barry Bolich, former Road Commission manager, as a board member of the Gogebic County Road Commission and approved the reappointment of Dennis Skinner to a new board term, beginning Jan. 1, 2025.

— At the request of Ramona Collins, county clerk and register of deeds, approved Erin Bunt as the county’s new representative for the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Authority and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Collins has been the representative but is retiring as of the end of the year. Bunt was elected on Nov. 5 as her successor.

— Approved the adoption of a resolution establishing the Section 32 Sewer Authority, in conjunction with the county, “as an incorporator and constituent municipality of the authority.”

— Approved a request by Brandon Tauer, the county’s IT director, to exceed the normal $5,000 spending limitation to upgrade the computer network cable and phone wiring within the Gogebic County Courthouse and jail. “This is the first of several phases,” said Tauer of the plans.

— Approved an allotment of $137,555 from the county’s general fund for repairs of the county’s Circuit Court courtroom ceiling.

— Approved donating $2,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Watersmeet.

Financially-related votes were at the recommendation of the board’s Finance, Budgeting and Auditing Committee, which met directly before the board meeting.

All votes were unanimous.

At the end of the meeting, board members entered a closed session to discuss collective bargaining negotiations in relation to county union employees.

The board’s next regular meeting will be on Dec. 18 at 5 p.m. in the Gogebic County Courthouse.