The composition of the Marquette County Board is set to undergo some dramatic changes, beginning in January, when two-thirds of the six-member panel’s representatives will be replaced with candidates who were elected in the November primary election.

Commissioners Steven Pence, Gregory Seppanen, Paul Arsenault and Deborah Pellow are leaving the board at the end of the month and will be replaced by John DePetro, Karen Alholm, Joseph Derocha and Bill Nordeen, respectively.

Commissioner Bruce Heikkila and board Chairman Gerald Corkin will remain on the board.

Pence, who was defeated in the primary election by DePetro, will become the county’s new civil counsel, replacing Stephen Adamini, who did not renew his contract. Adamini has been the county board’s attorney since January 2012. Pence has served on the board since being appointed in 2012.

Seppanen served on the county board previously before returning to the panel in 2012. Arsenault has been on the county board since 1988, while Pellow has served constituents on the panel for the past decade.

In March, all three announced they would not be seeking re-election to another term.

At the county board’s last regular meeting of the year recently, commissioners bid farewell to the four members and looked to the new panel members’ January arrival.

We too, would like to offer congratulations and thanks to those outgoing members who have served well on the panel during this latest configuration of the county board over the past two years and, for some, in service extending back many years.

We would also like to welcome the new board members who will be faced with numerous challenging issues to tackle, ranging from county jail improvements to declining revenue for supporting Sawyer International Airport.

Corkin summed up the situation well in setting the bar for the new members arriving.

“We have some good people coming on. They have to pick up the torch and want to get things done,” Corkin said. “Marquette County is the leader in the U.P. and one of the leaders in the state on a lot of things. So, you got big shoes to fill when you come on this board to keep up the standard that’s been set by prior boards for the last 30 years.”

We agree.