Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Iron County hires Marczak as aging unit manager

By RICHARD JENKINS

[email protected]

Hurley — The Aging Unit of Iron County will soon have a permanent manager after the Iron County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to hire Mark Marczak for the position.

Marczak, of Montreal, currently works with the county’s department of human services as a childcare supervisor for the Northern Income Maintenance Consortium.

He was one of three candidates interviewed, according to information presented to the board.

Marczak has already accepted the position, according to information presented to the board, ending the county’s search for a new manager. Leslie Kolesar has been serving as interim executive director of the unit, having taken the position in December after Mary Kay Welch resigned.

Kolesar told the Daily Globe Tuesday she estimates the transition will take roughly a month.

Marczak is the second person the county offered the position to, with an earlier applicant turning down the job offer.

While Tuesday’s vote officially hires Marczak, the process isn’t entirely complete.

The county is proposing that, in addition to serving as manager of the aging unit, Marczak continue in his role supervising economic support workers stationed in Iron County for the consortium.

It was explained in the meeting that not only is this supervisory role — which Marczak currently fills in addition to his job as the childcare supervisor — fulfilling a need for the county, it ensures he won’t take a pay cut in accepting the new position.

“He’s currently making more than what we are offering the aging unit manager, but that (time devoted to the additional duties) will bring him up to his current salary,” Supervisor Opal Roberts said during her report on the work of the human services committee.

This additional responsibility would be roughly 10 percent of Marczak’s overall duties, according to Roberts.

While the county board approved the division of duties, Iron County Human Services Cally Kilger told the Daily Globe after the meeting she couldn’t bring the proposal to the consortium until the county board approved it, meaning the consortium still needs to sign off on Marczak’s role overseeing the economic support workers.

In other action:

— The board approved extending the moratorium on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations in the county for another year. The extension will allow the county to continue researching whether it’s necessary for the county to adopt an ordinance governing the running of CAFOs in Iron County.

— The board passed a resolution officially adding properties received as part of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program to the county forest.

— The board also approved a number of basic rule changes dealing with the way supervisors can be reimbursed for attending meetings.

— The board also passed a resolution declaring the week of April 11 as Work Zone Awareness Week in the county.

— The county’s zoning ordinance was amended to add language dealing with septic maintenance by private landowners in the county and nonmetallic mining in the county.

— The county’s health, zoning and forestry departments all had their annual reports accepted by the board.