Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Hurley — The Iron County Board of Supervisors’ Finance Committee approved purchasing water testing equipment Thursday necessary to complete surface tests of the Montreal River watershed that LaPointe Iron Company would like to be completed.
County board chair Joe Pinardi said he and clerk Michael Saari had been in contact with LaPointe representatives about the testing and the company is asking the county to bear the cost of the equipment to avoid any potential appearance of impropriety or that they bought the results they want.
“They want water quality testing and they can’t contribute to the cost of this, or they can’t hire someone else, because then the results would be like they were bought,” Pinardi said. “We agreed Iron County is going to do the water quality testing, and they’re going to get good quality testing — it’s going to be fair — so this is what we need to do.”
The company owns land and mineral rights in the county, including the potential site of a mine near Upson that Gogebic-Taconite attempted to develop.
The equipment, is expected to cost around $5,845, will enable the county to conduct tests at a total of five sites on the east and west branches of the Montreal River, according to County Conservationist Heather Palmquist.
The equipment delivers instant results and tests a variety of data, including the amount of dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH balance and conductivity, according to Palmquist.
Palmquist is also planning phosphorus and nutrient testing, but that requires samples be sent to a lab and can’t be performed using the equipment.
Palmquist said she is also working with the Department of Natural Resources and LaPointe to possibly do heavy metals testing, but that also requires samples be sent away.
She said she is planning to conduct the tests on a monthly basis — heavy metal testing would likely be done quarterly — beginning in May, if the weather allows.
The equipment can also be used to test surface water in other locations, Palmquist said. The county board discussed the possibility of allowing people to hire out county personnel and the equipment, but no formal action was taken.
In other action:
—The committee also approved a clarification to the county’s employee handbook regarding call-out pay. Going forward, the county will pay two hours of call-out pay, in addition to whatever time the employee worked, to the county’s jailer/dispatchers and health department employees, Saari told the Daily Globe, if they are actually called out. However, Saari said picking up shifts because someone else was sick or unable to work didn’t count as getting called out.
The sheriff’s department only calls out a jailer/dispatcher once or twice a year, according to information presented at the meeting.
The two-hour call-out payment was originally intended for the highway department to deal with plowing roads and issues like that, Saari said.
