Negaunee City Manager Nate Heffron shows shows the newly expanded Tax Increment Finance area at Tuesday’s Marquette County Board of Commissioners meeting. The board voted to opt out of the TIF and enter into a separate agreement in which the city will capture 100% of any tax increase for the first 10 years of the agreement and 50% of the taxable value increase the last five years. (Journal photo by Trinity Carey)

MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a bid of $254,995 to Custom Construction Co. and a bid alternative in the amount of $4,320 for the construction of a pole barn to be used for storage for the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office’s Rescue 131 and Search and Rescue unit at its regular Tuesday meeting.

Commissioner Joe Derocha was absent from the meeting.

The 3,600-square-foot, heated pole barn will be constructed on county land located adjacent to the Marquette County Health Department and have three doors — two 14-by-14 foot doors and one 14-by-18 foot door — to accommodate the storage of various equipment.

The county’s current lease was to expire on Sept. 23, but an extension of the lease until Nov. 30 was granted so that County Administrator Scott Erbisch could seek proposals for the construction of a county-owned storage facility. Because of prior lease terms, the new facility to be constructed “shall be enclosed and heated by November 30, 2019, with temporary occupancy allowance,” the request for proposals states.

Erbisch recommended and the county approved the lowest of the four bid proposals, but this quick turnaround contributed to the high bid cost, he said.

The former use of the site also had to be considered in the cost.

“One thing that that site has, which is a little challenging, is it’s the site of the old garage from Negaunee Township and we are in fear, and it’s pretty strong probability, that there’s foundation component still in the ground there,” Erbisch said.

Because of the need to remove the leftover debris for construction, the cost of removal had to be factored into the lump sum bid as well, he added, but the project is within the means of current board reserve funds.

“I’m not going to promise you that we’re not going to find some issues … just because of some of the site conditions, but if we could have a permanent site for storage of this equipment that’s heated in the central area of Negaunee Township like it is, I think it would be very positive moving forward,” Erbisch said.

The board also unanimously approved an expansion to the city of Negaunee’s Tax Increment Finance area.

The board voted to opt out of the TIF area expansion and enter into a separate agreement with the city that states the city will capture 100% of any tax increase within the first 10 years and then capture at 50% for the remaining five years. The agreement would expire after 15 years and the county will be eligible to collect 100% of any taxable value beginning 2035.

Erbisch noted that the approval of this expansion will help the city improve its economic position within the county.

“The big parcels of land are west of downtown, however it will go on a small area on the highway,” he said. “We think it makes sense to support the standard TIF. If you do so, you could still collect as a county the amount of capture that you are collecting today going forward, so you would not lose any money initially. What you might lose is that expanded TIF area as it continues to grow.”

By choosing to opt out, the county’s agreement with the city expires after 15 years with the option to continue if they wish to do so.

Negaunee City Manager Nate Heffron was present at the meeting to show commissioners the areas of land the TIF would expand to and discuss the importance of the captured funds to the development of Negaunee.

“We would be further open to increasing that agreement down the road when that time frame ends or separating and just let bygones be bygones and letting things run their natural courses,” Heffron said. “We’re hoping for some potential growth to happen. In fact, right now we’re trying to rezone sections of property in the northern portions where this district lies and this will allow us to capture additional funds for that TIF district to employee within our downtown area and some of our major park area. We’re hoping that our plan so far will be successful and we’ll be seeing some developments occur in these areas.”

The board also unanimously approved:

≤ A 15-foot easement of county forest land to Upper Peninsula Power Company for a distribution line at a cost of $1,000, which is the minimum amount per Marquette County’s easement fee schedule. The line will power a SEMCO Energy Gas Co. main line valve as part of SEMCO’s Marquette Connector pipeline project — a 42-mile pipeline connecting the Northern Natural Gas Transmission pipeline with the Great Lakes Gas Transmission system.

≤ The lease of a 3,000-square-foot cold storage pole barn at Sawyer International Airport to Adler Lumber at a cost of $500 per month.

≤ To accept funding from a homemaker services grant from Upper Peninsula Commission for Area Progress in the amount of $155,147. The funds will be subcontracted to the Forsyth Senior Center, Ishpeming Senior Center, Marquette Senior Center and Negaunee Senior Center.

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is tcarey@miningjournal.net.