Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport is pictured from above. (Journal file photo)

MARQUETTE COUNTY — A local resident has filed a lawsuit against Marquette County over the county’s plan to take over the fixed base operator services at Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport. The lawsuit alleges that the county is in violation of the Michigan Open Meetings Act, as well as that the county is in “violation of substantive due process.”

The lawsuit’s plaintiff is Mark Hangen of Michigamme. The U.S. District Court action, filed on Feb. 4, identifies him as “a pilot who utilizes the services of Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport and the Fixed-Base Operator.” Hangen is the founder of the company Easy Ice.

FBOs provide general airport services such as fueling, aircraft maintenance and repair and pilot/crew services, among other things. Some airports contract out with private companies for FBO services while others, such as the Delta County Airport, employ county-run FBOs.

Marquette County began contracting with the company Kubick Aviation in summer of 2023 for their FBO services. On Oct. 27, Marquette County’s attorney notified Kubick Aviation that the county was terminating the FBO agreement, providing them with the six-month notice agreed upon in the contract.

According to Hangen’s lawsuit, “On November 10, 2025, the Airport Advisory Board’s Finance Committee (the “Finance Committee“) met to discuss airport leases, revenue-generating opportunities, and the overall financial health of the airport. They spent only 2.5 hours performing an initial review of over a dozen contracts and profit and loss documents.”

The lawsuit further alleges that, at this same Airport Advisory Board Finance Committee meeting, the Finance Committee recommended that FBO services be provided by the county, and not contracted out to a private business, under the reasoning that doing so would allow the County to capture additional revenue from the airport.

The minutes of the Nov. 13 meeting of the Airport Board of Advisors meeting report that “(Joseph) Derocha reviewed Airport Finance Committee recommendations… 1. FBO contract – County administration has issued a six-month termination notice without cause to Kubick aviation. FBO should be county owned and operated …”

On Nov. 18 at the county board of commissioners meeting, Commission Chair Joseph DeRocha stated that the rationale for the county taking ownership of the FBO, as well as for several other airport-related finance issues being voted on at that meeting, was because “we currently … (use) $350,000 to $400,000 out of the general fund annually to fund Sawyer. The attempts will be to change that. We have to look at where the revenue can come from to make Sawyer self-sustaining.”

At that same meeting, Commissioner Karen Alholm raised the concern that the board hadn’t been given enough information to make an informed vote, stating “the county board has an obligation to be fully informed of what they are asking to do. And I don’t think there is clarity here.”

The motion to approve the collection of airport-related issues in concept was passed, with the agreement that the commission would address each individual item on the list in future votes.

The issue of the FBO was specifically addressed in a Nov. 25 special meeting of the county board of commissioners, in which several representatives from Kubick Aviation gave public comments requesting that the city commission reconsider terminating its contract. At that meeting, DeRocha stated that, should the county take on the FBO service, the bottom-line net profit for the county would be $1.8 million.

Two motions were posited at that Nov. 25 meeting to table the vote until there was more information, but neither motion passed.

“I’m going to vote against the motion to refer it to the advisory board,” said Commissioner Karl Numinen. “It’s already been to the advisory board. The advisory board and the Airport Finance Committee both support this action.” Numinen went on to further explain the advisory board’s decision, citing other airports who have government-run FBOs as well as the legal basis for terminating Kubick Aviation’s contract.

After some discussion, the board agreed to take the Airport Advisory Board Financial Committee’s recommendation that the county take on FBO services at the airport, passing the motion 4-1.

According to Hangen’s lawsuit, a FOIA request was made for the documents provided to commissioners at this Nov. 25 meeting, and that these documents indicated that the figure of $1.8 million in profit was reportedly inaccurate.

“The Projection was based on the assumption of a $3.00 markup per gallon of fuel sold at the Airport, treating all such fuel sales as retail transactions. The Projection did not take into account that more than 85% of the fuel sold at the Airport is sold at negotiated contract rates (not retail pricing) where the average markup is closer to $0.80 per gallon,” notes page five of the lawsuit document. “Changing the fuel sale price assumption to take these negotiated rates into account reduces the projected $1.8 Million profit to a $291,000.00 loss.”

In terms of specific allegations made against the county, Hangen’s lawsuit alleges that “The County and its Commissioners did not act in compliance with the Open Meetings Act when it decided to terminate the FBO Agreement without first properly noticing and holding a public meeting for such purpose.”

The Michigan Open Meetings act stipulates that a public body “(a) to provide notice of its

meetings to the public; (b) that its meetings be open to the public and held in a location available to the general public; and (c) that its decisions be made at a meeting open to the public,” as well as that “all deliberations of a public body constituting a quorum of its members take place at a meeting open to the public.”

At the Nov. 18 board of commissioners meeting, DeRocha stated that the board did not need to deliberate or vote on Kubick’s contract termination after Vice-Chairman Bill Nordeen raised concerns.

In response to those concerns, DeRocha said that County Administrator and former Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport manager Duane Duray “has the authority on contracts.”

Hangen’s lawsuit also alleges that the county is in violation of the 5th and 14th Constitutional Amendments for a failure to comply with due process, stating that “the County terminated the FBO Agreement with Kubick and the County’s Commissioners decided to take over the FBO services without performing any meaningful due diligence,” calling the County’s decision to terminate the FBO agreement and take over FBO services at the airport “arbitrary and capricious.”

Hangen provided a list of items that would have qualified as “due-diligence” and which were allegedly not completed, including an assessment of liability risks for having a county-run FBO, obtaining a feasibility study and determining whether the county could “meet the industry standard of care for FBO-providers.”

The lawsuit’s aim is to “enjoin the county from terminating the FBO Agreement with Kubick and

bringing the FBO services in-house until they have performed meaningful due diligence to include the actions set forth above; and award Plaintiff his court costs and attorney’s fees.”

Hangen has also called for DeRocha to resign.

“We certainly aren’t going to comment when we’re in the middle of litigation,” said DeRocha when asked for comment. “Lets see how it plays out, and maybe when we’re done we’ll have a response”

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.