Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By P.J. GLISSON
MARENISCO— Another blow occurred to Marenisco Township this week when it was refused an injunction from a state court to prevent the current process of filling in sewer lagoons at the former Ojibway Correctional Facility off of M-64.
Township Supervisor Richard Bouvette reported the news late Tuesday evening, adding that he was not surprised by the action.
“They’re almost done out there, so I guess it doesn’t really matter whether we get the injunction or not,” he said.
Bouvette had said in prior conversations that he expected to get the confirmation once the lagoons had been rendered inert.
The Michigan Department of Corrections took the action to fill the lagoons this fall after closing the prison last December.
MDOC officials claimed that maintaining the sewer system and financing related rejuvenation would be economically prohibitive. They also claimed that, by removing the sewer system, the land would be easier to sell to a new owner who then could contribute taxes to Marenisco Township.
The Michigan Court of Claims also, earlier, had denied a related temporary restraining order that had been filed in September.
Bouvette said he still has not received word on the township’s appeal filed months ago to the state Court of Appeals. That appeal followed a state court’s ruling last fall against Marenisco’s attempt to sue MDOC for closing OCF at the end of last year without properly notifying residents here in advance.
Marenisco officials had held out hope this year that the state ruling would be reversed, thus allowing the prison to open again. Rep. Greg Markkanen, R-Houghton, also has been trying to get state officials to consider the location as a training facility for state correctional officers.
