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Give the Marquette City Commission credit for trying to get ahead of a problem before it causes a disaster.
The panel recently purchased a new system for waterfront safety for the city's swimming beaches, which are typically jam-packed with people every day during the summer, weather permitting.
Why? The answer to that question is as simple as it is unexpected -- the city has been able to hire enough lifeguards to cover all of the beaches during the time when lifeguards typically do their work.
The solution, from the commission's vantage point, is something called SwimSmart towers, wooden structures that are placed at the beaches that electronically keep an eye, so to speak, on the conditions in the lake.
The towers, created by SwimSmart Technology, LLC, aim to provide real time warnings and allow access for instant contact with emergency medical dispatch as well as access to needed equipment. The towers use a "stop light" system, similar to traffic lights, to provide instant information on water safety and warn beachgoers about dangerous conditions.
"I was really excited when I heard we were going to preserve this avenue," said Marquette Mayor Cody Mayer. "This is kind of one of those foundational things that we as a commission, as a city, really need to look at. Hopefully we will help save some lives."
One unexpected positive: The Marquette-based SwimSmart was co-founded by Michigan Tech alum Jacob Soter before moving the company's base of operations to the Innovate Marquette SmartZone.
None of this comes cheap. The four-tower package the city purchased cost $95,240.
But here's another question: how much is a life worth?