Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette County Commissioners Joel Karenen (left) and Glenn Anderson were selected by County Board Chair Tom Tikkanen to head the County- Held Properties Committee.

HOUGHTON – The Houghton County Marina was one of the properties discussed at Tuesday’s County-Held Properties Committee meeting, which included a clarification from Committee Chairman Joel Keranen. Keranen is also County Board of Commissioners trustee. “To be clear, no decision has been made to sell anything,” he said, adding that the committee cannot make those decisions.

The purpose of the committee is to determine why the county owns the properties in question, the value of each and whether they are operating efficiently, said Keranen.

The committee’s purpose, he said, is just to gather information and ideas. “So, the (committee) can’t make any decisions,” said Keranen. “This is just a brainstorming session.” Keranen said he was a driving force in that, because the jail millage referendum has failed four times.

When the committee was formed, he said, he and County Commissioner Glenn Anderson were selected by Commission Chairman Tom Tikkanen to head the committee. “The people I’ve talked to, I think, they kind of want to see the county come with some money to put toward a jail, rather than taxing the people for the whole jail,” Keranen said. “The county doesn’t have the excess money to do that, and that’s when they looked at what are the pros and cons.”

Anderson said his assignment is to determine the values of the properties, stating he feels the county should retain their ownership.

“I have no interest in selling any property of county owns,” he said, “but nevertheless, I have no problem having that debate or discussion.”