A guard shack at the entrance to K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base is shown. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)

MARQUETTE — At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Marquette County Commission, commissioners voted 6-0 in favor of authorizing representatives of the County to enter into discussions and obtain information about possibly recommissioning Sawyer Marquette Regional Airport, in part, as a United States National Defense Air Force Base.

The original language of the resolution, which was drafted by Chairman Joe Derocha and County Administrator Duane Duray, read, “the Marquette County Board of Commissioners duly authorizes representatives of the County to enter into discussions and take necessary action to recommission SAW, in whole or in part, as a United States National Defense Air Force Base.”

This language was amended during the meeting to read “the Marquette County Board of Commissioners duly authorizes representatives of the county to enter into discussions and obtain information concerning the possible recommissioning of SAW, in part, as a United States National Defense Air Force Base.” That is the resolution which was voted on and approved.

The original, proposed resolution was released over the weekend in the agenda packet for the meeting, which attracted a substantial amount of discussion and attention online. Due to the wording of the resolution, namely the phrases “and take necessary action” and “in whole or in part,” there was some speculation that it could mean closing the airport to civilian use, or the displacement of the people who currently live in base housing.

Subsequently, so many people attended the meeting that they spilled out into the hallway, with many having to stand or sit on the ground. An additional 25+ people joined the meeting online by viewing the livestream. A public comment period of over forty-five minutes preceded the vote.

Some people had come in support of the resolution. One Air Force veteran who had been stationed at K.I. Sawyer expressed that soldiers need a place like Marquette to train in; a place that has wilderness and all four seasons. Representatives from the U.P. Construction Council and United Steel Workers Local 4950 also expressed support, saying it would bring jobs to the area. However, the vast majority of public comments expressed concern or outright opposition.

Many people asked commissioners to table the vote or amend its language, expressing that there had not been enough time for public input, especially from the people who live in K.I. Sawyer, before making such a large decision. Others were concerned about the Air Force potentially pulling out of the region again, as it had done before, or were concerned about the environmental impact related to PFAS and groundwater contamination. Still others had concerns about the County collaborating with the Department of War.

Derocha went on to provide some background information on the resolution. Over the last several years, he said, there has been additional military presence on base, in the form of training exercises such as Northern Strike. SAW’s 12,000 foot runway is seen as an asset in these sorts of exercises.

“Looking at trying to increase economic growth throughout Marquette County is what this was about,” said Derocha. “It’s about having that discussion … The last line request is to have representatives of the county enter into discussions with the necessities of the stakeholders.

“So there’s a litany of things. Nobody’s saying there’s going to be a base … This is in pursuant of trying to redevelop a large, 2.5 mile runway.”

Derocha also gave examples of other so-called joint-use airports across the county, where military activity happens while keeping the airport open to public use.

“We’re actually going to open discussions up with potential military operators to see if the Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport could be an asset for them,” said Duray. “Whether they want to train, whether they want to utilize some of the infrastructure, or potentially see if there’s any areas that they could repurpose so that the airport could become more (of a) profit center and develop into something larger that would bring economic success to Marquette County.

After discussion from Commissioners, the language of the resolution was changed to what is stated above.

“I do have a little qualm with the way it’s worded,” said Commission Vice-Chair Bill Nordeen, referencing the phrase “authorizes representatives of the County to enter into discussions and take necessary action.”

“That’s pretty broad,” said Nordeen. “I mean, what does that mean? … They’re gonna go sign documents without us knowing?”

Nordeen also requested that the phrase “In whole or in part” be changed to “in part.”

“What I understand is that we may get another military presence here, and we’re not gonna displace what’s here,” said Nordeen. “What I envisioned is that if the Air Force wanted to come back and have a footprint here, it’d be on the west side of the runway, where it’s vacant, and they would want the alert facility, which is also vacant at this moment. And the rest of it would stay where it was. They’re certainly not going to take the housing.”

“We’re trying to do this properly,” said Nordeen. “We’re trying to do it with transparency, and we’re trying to do it in a way that gathers information, and we’re not making any decisions other than authorizing staff to gather information.”

“Displacement out of your homes and your jobs, I understand that fear,” said Commissioner Dana LaLonde. “That is the last thing in the world that your county commissioners would ever want. And we wouldn’t support it.

“But what we do support is economic development, done appropriately with our environment taken into consideration. And what happened when the base first left years ago, doesn’t mean that’s what would happen again.

“And I’m not even saying that the base would be coming back into commission, I honestly can’t see it happening. But this is just the beginning of learning what they want to do, because they have been more of a presence than they used to be, and it’s good to have these discussions.”

After the commission voted and carried out the rest of their meeting, there was another public comment period, this time lasting approximately half an hour.

“I really hope that as you are engaging in these conversations that there are specific work sessions … and that those work sessions take place at K.I., that those take place by the affected communities,” said Caitlin Jensen in a public comment.

In another public comment, Joseph Sherman, who identified himself as a lawyer, said that “I’m not as concerned with the amended language, but I will be interested to see how things go forward with the plan … let’s just be careful as we go forward with this development of a plan and make sure we don’t accidentally give somebody blanket authority to do horrible things.”

Jeff Chiodi, chairman of the Marquette County Conservation District, also spoke during public comment, saying that “I do not think that we need to enter an agreement with the Department of War, Department of Defense, to police the American taxpayer to provide services for our community.

“I am sick and tired of paying taxes to an organization that, again, is the largest consumer of fossil fuels in the world. It does not appear on the carbon footprint data for the United States. They are wasteful upon wasteful. And so to go to that wealth, of citizen’s tax money, to (supposedly enrich) economic development for our community? I think it’s an old road that we cannot go down.”

Another public commenter, Grant Combs, said “do we really want to set Gwinn up as a community whose economy is a cycle of success and devastation from the military coming and leaving?”

At the end of the meeting, Nordeen advertised an upcoming meeting of the Sawyer Operations Authority, which will be held on July 9 at the 906 Church.

“Anyone who wants to get more information, that’s a good place to go,” said Nordeen.

The full resolution is available for viewing at www.co.marquette.mi.us/county_government/board_of_commissioners/current_meetings.php.

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