EAGLE RIVER – For Ray Chase, the biggest issue facing the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioners for the foreseeable future is the situation with the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge.

Chase, who is running for re-election for the District 2 seat on the County Board, said members need to find a way to make the lodge operation self-sustaining.

The debt for the KML is greater than its appraised value, Chase said, and that has to change as quickly as possible.

“We have to get the Mountain Lodge on a paying basis,” he said. “It needs to be self-supporting.”

Keweenaw County Board commissioners serve two-year terms.

District 2 is Houghton and Sherman townships. Chase said he ran the first time because he saw a need.

“I thought I could be a benefit to Keweenaw County,” he said.

During his time on the County Board, Chase said a significant remodel of the court house/county administration building was done and new sewers were installed.

Chase said another important issue facing the commissioners is the future of the 130-year-old county jail. At its regular meeting Wednesday night, the County Board is expected to decide whether to keep housing long-term inmates there, or convert it to a 72-hour lockup until inmates can either make bond or are transferred to another county’s jail. Commissioners have to decide if paying another county to house their inmates is less expensive than continuing to house them in Eagle River.

Chase said the commissioners are doing the best they can for Keweenaw County, but there are still issues that need to be resolved.

“There’s still a lot to do,” he said. “I don’t feel I can walk away until (those issues) are resolved.”