Questions were taken from the audience and posed to each candidate, who had a minute and a half to answer.

“This is the first time since at least 2010 that an elected incumbent has not been running,” said LWM member Nancy Kreft in her opening address. “Both districts lost their representatives this past year. Interim commissioners were appointed by the board, but they have to run for election, and they have opponents.”

All candidates running for the District 1 and District 3 seats are Democrats, so the primary on August 4th will in effect decide each election.

“The Marquette County Commissioners oversee the government of the largest county in Michigan, and its 68,000 citizens,” said Kreft. “The departments they run include the airport, central dispatch and local emergency planning, the road commission, Central UP planning and development, Pathways, public health, corrections and the sheriff, solid waste and landfill and several more. What they decide affects all of us every day.”

Marquette County Board of Commissioners candidates speak at the League of Women Voters of Marquette County’s candidate forum Wednesday night. (Photo courtesy of the League of Women Voters of Marquette County)

During opening statements, candidates highlighted their experience and reasons for running.

Numinen currently serves on the County Board after being appointed by the board last fall, and previously served as legal counsel to the board. He owns a law firm with offices in Marquette and Houghton.

Mayer has served as a Marquette City Commissioner for nearly 6 years, including several years as mayor, is a National Guard member and is the Sault Tribe’s housing commissioner for the greater Marquette and Munising areas.

Benzie currently serves on the County Board after being appointed by the board this past spring, and previously served as the Director of Environmental Health and the Administrative Health Officer for the Marquette County Health Department.

Ritari currently serves as the Marquette Township Clerk, a role he has held for 16 years, and has 22 years of experience in local government. He also works as a water treatment plant operator.

Smith served as a Marquette City Commissioner for 7 years, including several years as mayor, and is a human resources professional and member of the Housing Now Marquette County Leadership Council.

Topics discussed at the forum included housing, data centers, the future of the old K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base, transparency in local government and environmental concerns.

One of the audience-submitted questions read “what steps would you take to make the workings of the county more transparent, accessible and accountable to constituents?”

“I have a lot of experience working with the public, having served on the city commission for 7 years,” said Smith, “and what I found is that being approachable, being reliable and being honest is what works.” Smith said that she planned to use social media as a commissioner to keep the public informed, both about the commission’s plans and her positions.

“Two primary means of providing for transparency are the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act,” said Numinen. “And the Open Meetings Act requires that this county board only take action and make decisions at open meetings.” Numinen went on to say that there had been some miscommunication on social media about whether a county board member discussing board action items outside of open meetings violates the OMA.

“Of course we’ve talked about it,” said Numinen. “I hope we’ve talked about it. We get board packets that we review chock full of information by the administrator.”

“In my eyes, you can’t have meaningful policy discussions unless there’s transparency and communication with your constituents,” said Mayer. “Things happening behind closed doors, or people are only finding out about the county making an action, or the city making an action, after it’s already happened. That’s not how this public process is supposed to work.” Mayer went on to say that he also planned to use social media to keep people informed about the board.

“Part of my problem is that we’ve lost public trust,” said Benzie. “… In order to gain that trust, we have to get back to being more transparent, listening and engaging people before we make decisions.” Benzie also suggested publishing all documents a week or two in advance of scheduled meetings.

“I’d like to see the county board meetings live streamed, or put up quicker than they usually are now,” said Ritai. “And their website, maybe, would need an overhaul, because we did that here (at Marquette Township), and it was much better for the township residents.” Ritari also highlighted his experience with OMA and FOIA as township clerk, and suggested setting up a county Facebook page.

All candidates voiced opposition to data centers.

The last question of the evening was “what are the primary environmental challenges our county confronts, and how would you propose addressing them?”

“We’ve got a PFAS problem of contamination at the airport,” said Numinen. “…We also have some potential issues with the Marquette County Landfill. You know, there was a long period of time where our landfill wasn’t quite as regulated as they are now. And I think that we’ve got a little bit of a potential issue there that’s going to be an expensive cleanup project at some point in time.”

Mayer agreed with Numinen, and added that “we have several operating mines currently in Marquette County. And I’m not speaking poorly about any of the mines themselves, but at some point, closure happens with mines. And I think we have some mines that have operated really well, and have earned a lot of trust with the public, but the Upper Peninsula in particular, we have a history, a very long history, of mines that have left just waste everywhere.”

Mayer also voiced concern about the future of Marquette’s natural gas RICE generators, which could be affected by state energy laws.

“I think the PFAS situation is probably the biggest one,” said Benzie. “… On the positive side, I talked with somebody from the (Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve), and they said, with regard to the monitoring they’re doing with the mine up in Big Bay, that they have such an enormous program that it’s the best in all of Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.”

“As a drinking water operator, PFAS and microplastics, they’re a huge issue for us at the City of Marquette, where I work,” said Ritari. “We can filter out the microplastics, but we can’t filter out the PFAS … We have to regulate our industries, and make sure on our wastewater plant … that we treat that (PFAS and microplastics) and get that out of our water going back into Lake Superior.”

“I think we’ve got to think bigger,” said Smith. “Climate change is real. It’s here. We’re seeing the effects now. I think a county government can help plan for that … when you build a road, you put curbs on it that can withstand a 100, 200 or 300 year storm … our storms are getting more kind of jumbled together and more severe each time, and I think we need to make sure that we’re planning for those instances … and making sure that, as a county, we are minimizing our environmental impact.”

Wednesday’s forum can be viewed in full on the League of Women Voters’ Youtube page. The direct link to the video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jykz6W1gZ1s&list=PL2ApSFTQunujGXGVPaOdNpnCN__F7gVkx.

A second forum was held by the League of Women Voters Marquette County on Thursday night; this one featured candidates for 96th District Court Judge.

“The league itself is over 100 years old, and has always worked to preserve, protect and promote voting rights and civic engagement,” said Kreft.

Voting guides with ballot information and information about each candidate are available at vote411.org.

Donations to the League of Women Voters of Marquette County can be made at https://lwvmqt.org/donate/.

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