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MARQUETTE TOWNSHIP -- The Marquette Township Board Wednesday voted unanimously in favor of renewing Northern Michigan University’s lease of a township radio tower.
The tower in question is located behind a public works building and is used by the university for its Educational Access Network broadband program, which provides internet to much of the Upper Peninsula. While the township does not collect any rent from NMU for use of the tower, they do receive the internet which it provides.
The lease has been in place since 2009, but the new lease adds updated language and a few minor updates.
"There's nothing really significantly changed," said Superintendent of Public Works Leonard Bodenus. "I think it's just mainly wording. I think it also has to do with their potential sale or transfer of the equipment, too."
NMU announced that they would be selling the EAN to Michigan Broadband Services for $21 million in August.
"We made a couple of tweaks to their proposal, in terms of we wanted to reserve the township's right to charge for subleased mounted equipment," said township attorney Roger Zappa.
"If NMU were, for example, to sublease to some other provider of similar services ... we can charge the rent.
"…One of the more comical revisions was it said in the old lease that if either party deposits notice in the mail, it’s deemed delivered in 3 days. (NMU) changed it (in the new lease) to 5 days, which I guess is a commentary on the mail service from the last 17 years since we did the agreement last."
"The wording is different, but the substance of it is essentially the same," said Zappa. "There are no alarming provisions in it."
Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.