MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Board of Commissioners will consider a recommendation to enter into a contract with GEI Consultants to complete a grant project that will improve the influent pumping system of the K.I. Sawyer Water/Wastewater Department to 6 p.m. today in the Henry A. Skewis Annex.

The board rescheduled its regular meeting to today due to Tuesday’s election.

The department was awarded a grant from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for $100,000, which will be matched by $60,000 of department funds. $21,000 of the total grant amount was designated for consultation services.

Sawyer International Airport staff sent out a Request For Qualifications and only received qualifications from GEI Consultants.

Based on previous experience working with GEI, airport staff is recommending to the board that the county contracts with GEI to complete the MDARD grant work and administration.

The board will also discuss an informational item related to a Fiscal Year 2020 Liquor Tax Fund Request by the county to support specialty court programs.

Marquette County has received Liquor Tax Funds to support specialty court programs since 2006. There are currently three specialty courts in Marquette; Sobriety Court, Adult Drug Court and Juvenile Treatment Court.

Liquor Tax Funds are shifted to Northcare Network, a mental health and substance abuse organization. Northcare funds allow the courts to provide case management, substance screening and other support services.

“Without these funds our programs would be unable to continue operations. This would greatly limit the ability of our courts to effectively address the problem of addiction in our defendant population,” board documents state.

Programs typically funded by local liquor tax include DARE programming, drug/treatment court case management, drug testing supplies and services for court involved individuals and training related to substance use disorders.

Since becoming fully operational specialty courts, 494 participants have been admitted to the programs and 229 of the participants have successfully graduated. The recidivism rate for Marquette County Sobriety Court is 4%.

With the Liquor Tax funds, the county plans to use $25,000 to maintain case management services for sobriety court and drug court; $28,020 to maintain the current level of intensive substance screening to include all specialty court participants and those being monitored by pretrial services; $17,000 for drug testing supplies such as 13-panel drug screen kits, saliva kits, urine kits and Soberlink monitoring services which allow 24/7 monitoring of alcohol use.

The board will also consider a bid from M.J. VanDamme of Gwinn in the amount of $30,240 to replace 450 feet of an irrigation pipe at Red Fox Run Golf Course. If approved, the work will be paid for with facility maintenance funds from the Sawyer International Airport budget.

A bid in the amount of $121,150 from Associated Constructors of Marquette Michigan for the replacement for the K.I. Sawyer Water Department Hydrant Replacement Project will also be considered. There are currently 13 fire hydrants that do not function properly, board documents state. If approved, the work will be paid for with capital improvement funds from the water department budget.

The board will also consider a recommendation from airport staff to authorize a purchase order in the amount of $503,210 to Industrial Marketing of Gwinn for the funding of a runway snow plow.

Funds will come from a 2019 Airport Improvement grant provided by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is tcarey@miningjournal.net.