MARQUETTE — The Marquette City Commission this week moved ahead with annual performance evaluations for the city manager and city attorney, approved a road easement on Michigan Army National Guard property for a roundabout, rezoned property for the hospital transportation project and approved a lease agreement with Superior Hockey.

The commission at its regular meeting Monday unanimously authorized Mayor Dave Campana to appoint three commissioners to a committee to review commissioner evaluations of City Manager Mike Angeli and City Attorney Ron Keefe and make a recommendation regarding compensation or terms of employment. This is an annual process.

Additional right-of-way was needed for a roundabout at the intersection of Lincoln Avenue and Wright Street, as recommended in the Lundin Truck Corridor Study for the Wright Street reconstruction project, according to city documents.

To that end, the commission unanimously approved a roadway easement for property owned by the state under the jurisdiction of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs at 1820 Lincoln Ave.

The city will pay $19,425 for use of the property, funded through Lundin road funding.

The state of Michigan drafted the easement, which is subject to approval by the State Administrative Board and Attorney General, according to city documents.

The commission also unanimously approved a five-year office and storage lease with Superior Hockey at Lakeview Arena for about $1,360 per month, or about $16,300 for this year.

Commissioner Sara Cambensy asked about a potential hike in rent once the new budget is passed.

The new fiscal year starts in October and the budget will likely be passed in September.

City documents note the annual rent might increase 20 percent.

Assistant Director of Community Services Jon Swenson said that rates may increase for office space from $10 per square foot to $12, and for storage, from $5 per square foot to $6.

Superior Hockey now leases the southwest corner of Lakeview which is about 1,000 square feet with 150 square feet of storage. The new lease is for the space in the center of the south face of Lakeview formerly occupied by the city’s engineering division and United Way prior to that. The new space is about 1,200 square feet of office space and 800 square feet of storage space, according to city documents.

Superior Hockey will operate with both leases for one month while they renovate and move the store, after which time the lease for the current space will be terminated.

Cambensy said that a few years ago, raising the rates chased out previous renters.

“I hope we don’t do that this time,” Cambensy said. “It’s a unique location, this seems to be a business that fits well and I just want to make sure that when we visit this, that if I guess the terms are not agreeable to the renter, I’d like to see it be probably less than 20 percent going forward, especially with the owners of this business putting all of the renovation work in and paying for it themselves.”

The commission also conducted a public hearing, at which no members of the public spoke, and unanimously approved rezoning a portion of property at 621 Fisher St. from industrial to residential to accomodate a property owner who is selling property to the city for the hospital transportation project.

The property currently has both industrial and general residential zoning. The purpose of the rezoning is to provide residentially-zoned land to the neighboring property owners who will be relinquishing a portion of their property adjacent to North Seventh Street for the expansion of that street right-of-way, according to city documents.

The Marquette Planning Commission unanimously approved the rezoning in July.

The commission, as part of the consent agenda, also unanimously:

≤ scheduled a public hearing for a $3.2 million amendment to the Brownfield Plan for the Duke LifePoint hospital at the regular Aug. 28 city commission meeting;

≤ scheduled a public hearing for a condominium subdivision plan at 215 S. Front St.;

≤ scheduled a public hearing for Aug. 28 to close out the Delft project community development block grant process;

≤ approved a request for license by YMCA of Marquette County to use city property at 1401 E. Fair Ave. for an outdoor childcare area;

≤ approved a bench purchase for the Marquette bandshell for $17,000, with half paid for by a Michigan

Council for Arts and Culture Affairs grant and half from the general fund; and

≤ approved a request to purchase a total of 30 months of service credit under the provisions of the

city’s military service credit policy for an estimated cost to the city of $31,700.00, amortized over 20 years.

Mary Wardell can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. Her email address is mwardell@miningjournal.net.