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Civil counsel changes

Officials look for new attorney as Pence departs

By CECILIA BROWN

Journal Staff Writer

MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday approved a change in the county’s civil counsel position, as attorney Steven Pence, who has served in that role for around four years, has stated his intent to leave at the end of the year, according to a letter from Pence to the board.

While the terms, conditions and final details have yet to be determined, the board authorized Marquette County Administrator Scott Erbisch to enter negotiations for a two- to three-year contract with Wendy Leukuma and John Heikkila of the Pence Law Office, Erbisch said.

This stems from a suggestion made by county board Chairman Gerald Corkin at Wednesday night’s meeting.

“We’ve had Wendy Leukuma do a lot of work here over the last year and a half, a lot of the contract work and personnel work,” Corkin said. “She’s done an excellent job and my suggestion is that we keep her on board and authorize the administrator to negotiate with Wendy with John Heikkila as a backup when she’s absent.”

This was approved with a 5-1 vote, with Commissioner Bill Nordeen opposing, citing concerns about the need to bid the position out.

“You’re going to take on a new civil counsel without going out for bids to see what’s out there? I never heard anything so crazy all my life. You have to go and see what’s out there,” Nordeen said. “We went out for bids even when it was Steve and some of us thought it was appropriate to bid that out … I say we bid everything out and that’s how we do it. But now I’m totally shocked that you’d even entertain such a thing.”

However, others cited Leukuma’s proven ability to perform the job, as well as the difficulty of bidding out the position before Pence’s departure on Dec. 31.

“We’ve had Wendy Leukuma working for us for a couple years now. Her qualifications and her ability and, I think, her experience and her rapport with administration speaks volumes, and I think that’s certainly a great part of why I would support this,” Commissioner Karen Alholm said. “Additionally, putting out for bids, when we know Mr. Pence is leaving at the end of the year, we’re then kind of blocked up for time, and I see this as really an opportunity to have continuity in our civil counsel contract.”

The board also approved funding for additional work on the Sawyer International Airport terminal’s concrete apron at the meeting.

The work, which was performed under a Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program grant over the summer, ended up being more extensive and costly than originally anticipated due to additional damage to the apron with the heat over the summer, Airport Manager Duane DuRay said.

The board approved the payment of roughly $6,000 in additional costs to the project contractor, J. Ranck Electric Inc. This will be reimbursed by the FAA when the grant is amended at the end of the funding term in summer 2019, minus the local share of around $300, DuRay said.

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. Her email address is cbrown@miningjournal.net.

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