Marquette County Board to discuss terminating Kubick Aviation for third time

Mark Hangen claims Derocha lied during deposition

MARQUETTE -- Last week, Judge John B. Economopoulos made a partial ruling that the Marquette County Board of Commissioners must terminate Kubick Aviation's Fixed Base Operator Agreement at Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport for the third time, after previous termination attempts in October 2025 and May 2026 were ruled invalid as the board had not discussed the termination explicitly in a public meeting.

This ruling comes after a months-long lawsuit between Kubick Aviation and Marquette County over the County's termination of Kubick's FBO contract in order to take on FBO operations themselves, with local hobby pilot Mark Hangen joining the lawsuit after being granted permissive intervention back in May.

There is still pending litigation over whether the board violated the Open Meetings Act in their termination of Kubick and decision to take over the FBO.

The board is set to discuss the termination at 6 p.m. tonight in the Marquette County Courthouse Annex, according to an item on the agenda reading "Discussion (and) decision on termination of Fixed Base Operator Limited Services Agreement, Lease Agreement (and) all attachments, between Kubick Aviation Services, Inc (and) Marquette County."

If the board once again decides to terminate Kubick's contract, that termination would go into effect in April, one year after the county had intended to take over Fixed Base Operations at the airport.

Now, Hangen is alleging that Marquette County Board of Commissioners chair Joe Derocha perjured himself during his deposition for that lawsuit by claiming that Hangen threatened him at a Nov. 25 meeting of the board. Hangen claims he was not present at that meeting.

In Derocha's deposition, given on Sept. 11, he states: "So I did share with (Commissioner Karl Numinen) a message from (Hangen) when he publicly threatened me in the back of the room and said, Derocha, 'I am going to get you, and I'm going to get your friend (Karl) Numinen, make no mistake to that."

Derocha said that he had taken this statement from Hangen to be a "physical threat."

Derocha's statement was given in response to a question from Hangen's lawyer, Mark Demorest, about whether Derocha had spoken to Numinen before the Nov. 25 meeting of the Marquette County Board of Commissioners.

When Demorest asked Derocha to clarify whether that conversation with Hangen had occurred before the Nov. 25 meeting or before a different meeting, Derocha replied, "This would've been before."

Hangen claims that he never attended a meeting of the Marquette County Board of Commissioners until Jan. 20, 2026.

In a document written by Demorest to be sent to various interested parties, including the county's lawyer, Matthew Cross, Hangen's account of what happened is presented as follows:

"Mr. Hangen's first and only in-person attendance at a Marquette County Commission meeting occurred on Jan. 20, 2026. Before the meeting, Mr. Derocha approached Mr. Hangen in the rear of the Commission Chambers. Mr. Hangen had no idea who he was. Mr. Derocha asked why Mr. Hangen was at the meeting, and then asked whether he was there about the airport matter. Mr. Hangen said yes.

"Mr. Derocha asked what Mr. Hangen was going to say. Mr. Hangen replied that he would prefer to wait until it was his turn to address the Commission ... Mr. Derocha said that the decision to terminate the Kubick FBO agreement had already been made and that they were not going to reconsider it. Mr. Hangen responded, 'OK, we'll see.'

"Mr. Hangen then asked whether his friend and attorney, Karl Numinen, would be present that night. Mr. Deorcha said no. Mr. Derocha then asked Mr. Hangen whether he would lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the meeting."

"(Hangen) alludes to this Nov. 25 meeting, and I haven't looked at the deposition, but I didn't specifically say that was the date," said Derocha, when The Mining Journal reached out for comment. "(Hangen's legal counsel) were focused in on a special meeting, which I know it wasn't at the special meeting, because it was actually in the commission chambers itself."

The Nov. 25 special meeting had occurred in a different room.

"I'm certain I define that in the testimony," said Derocha. "But I know what he said, I know what it was and I know what he meant."

Derocha's deposition did specify that the conversation with Hangen had occurred "in the commission chambers," but it was given in response to a question specifically about any conversations that occurred on or prior to Nov. 25.

Derocha went on to say that Hangen "made a statement about paying $17,000 in property tax and (received) nothing for it. And I ... he must have said that out loud. I'm trying to remember who said 'you own an island.' And ... so others had heard that."

Hangen also claims he had a witness, who was willing to testify in his favor.

"(Derocha) has a favorite saying," said Hangen in a statement to The Mining Journal. "He goes, 'you might not like what I'm going to tell you, but I'll never lie to you.' And that's just wrong. In fact, when someone says something like that, they usually mean they're gonna lie to you."

"Don't threaten a public official because you have an opposition of viewpoint," said Derocha. "That I take issue with ... We have the duty of the county to do the best business we can, and it sometimes (causes disagreements). We try to work those out as civilly as possible, but this has ended up in litigation."

More information can be found in The Mining Journal’s previous coverage of these lawsuits. See: “Lawsuit over county taking ownership of Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport FBO filed” from March 3, “Lawsuit against Marquette County dismissed” from April 25, “County board cancels special meeting relating to FBO” from April 29, "Delta County judge rules in favor of Kubick Aviation in lawsuit against Marquette County" from May 1 and "Judge reconsiders Marquette County FBO case" from July 10.

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