HOUGHTON — In a special meeting Friday, the Houghton County Board narrowly reappointed Road Commission Chairman Bill Siler.

The board voted 3-2 to reappoint Siler, with Chairman Al Koskela, Vice Chairman Tom Tikkanen and Commissioner Roy Britz voting in favor. Commissioners Glenn Anderson and Gretchen Janssen voted against the reappointment.

Three other people also applied for the position.

Anderson supported a change on the road commission as a way to signal the board’s dissatisfaction with the handling of the Cole’s Creek Road issue. Several homes along the road lost their water service on Cole’s Creek Road after their line was ruptured during repairs from the Father’s Day Flood in 2018.

“I think we need to at least show some displeasure with how this was handled,” he said. “I don’t blame the Road Commission for coming up against an 80-year-old water system that’s not regulated, not permitted, but on the other hand, I think it could have been handled better.”

Koskela said Siler has been doing a “pretty good job.” Koskela said the Road Commission had not been to blame for what happened on the road.

“There were no instructions or suggestions for the contractor to do something with it,” he said. “The people out there, they said this thing was buried four feet or five feet underground and they dug down less than 43 inches and hit it, so somebody didn’t know what was going on at the onset of that job,” he said.

Britz agreed with Siler, motioning to reappoint Siler to the Road Commission.

Anderson said while he respects Siler, calling him “one of the best contractors in Houghton County”, his bidding for county road commission work could pose the appearance of a conflict of interest.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve had many other contractors over the years just talk that that’s not necessarily a good thing,” he said.

Anderson said Siler’s role potentially also put him in position to influence change orders.

Britz said as the board’s representative on the Road Commission board, he had intentionally paid close attention to whether Siler received favoritism in bidding or in change orders.

“I saw no indication of any conflict, in my opinion,” he said.

Koskela agreed with Anderson, but said there had been no evidence of anything illegal.

Tikkanen credited Siler for his work in the road commission’s response to the Father’s Day Flood and cited a letter from Engineer Kevin Harju recommending Siler be reappointed.

“They were ready and willing and able to get roads back open and serviceable much quicker than anyone would have anticipated with the very, very limited financial resources that were awarded,” Tikkanen said.