HOUGHTON — Four candidates are vying for the Republican nomination in the District 2 race for the Houghton County Board of Commissioners. 

Former Board Chair Al Koskela held the post for a decade before his death in April. The position is being held on an interim basis by Kevin Codere, who is not seeking to be elected permanently.

Profiles of Richard Nye and Glenn Schuldt are below. Lou Ambuehl and Joel Keranen were profiled on Thursday. 

Richard Nye

A Dollar Bay native, Nye served on the Dollar Bay-Tamarack City Schools board for 24 years, including six as president. 

He served in the U.S. Navy as a sonar technician from 1971 to 1973. After receiving an associates degree in electrical engineering technology from Michigan Technological University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin. 

Nye held several engineering jobs, including working as a telecom engineer for D&N Savings and Michigan Tech. He has also founded and operated four businesses: Rick Nye Rentals, Nye Telecom, Curves for Women and Done & Out Construction. He raised six children and has 12 grandchildren. 

After retiring a couple of years ago, Nye said he had more time to serve the community. He also talked with the late Chair Al Koskela about the position a month or so before his death, and found they had similar backgrounds. 

“My wife actually works at the courthouse too, so I hear a bit of the bad and the good of what goes on over there,” he said. “I just feel like I have a lot of experience here and could be an asset to them.”

Asked about particular issues he wanted to tackle if elected, Nye listed recycling, the county jail, the airport and an emergency bridge. 

Last year, Houghton County added recycling at the transfer station. It accepts cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, metal containers and glass.

Nye said he supported recycling “where it makes sense,” and not expanding to other items like electronics.

“When you’ve got a big city, you can recycle anything, and they probably do real well at it,” he said. “We’re small. We can’t do everything.”

Nye supported exploring options on the jail. On the jail issue, Nye said he thought the proposed location on Sharon Avenue could work, although he worried about additional transport time for inmates depending on what courts are also included at the complex. He also liked the idea of building on county-owned land across the street from the courthouse. As an engineer, he thought adding more floors on the existing jail was not feasible. 

“That’s going to be a really tough situation there, because I know we have to do something, but nobody wants to dish out more money right now,” he said.

Nye said the county would have to explore its options when it came to preserving air service. Bringing another airline to the county would likely require the county to demonstrate it could be profitable.

The county board is also weighing requests for how to spend $6.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds. Once the requests are in, Nye said he would make visits to the sites or agencies involved to see firsthand how big the need was.

“I’m an engineer,” he said. “I think like an engineer. I do things methodically and plan.”

On the issue of a second bridge, he said he would support pursuing an emergency bridge, such as one available in Sault Ste. Marie, rather than building another permanent structure.

“How much would a bridge cost?” he said. “It’d be astronomical. And it’d have to be a lift bridge, because we’ve got all these big boats that come through here.”

Nye said what made him stand out in the Republican primary is his extensive education and the breadth of his professional and life experience. 

Nye took issue with the Copper Country Republican Party’s spring endorsement of Keranen in the primary, which he said was done without any attempt to reach out to other candidates for their views.

“How can they endorse somebody when they know nothing about the other people?” he said. “Any business, any government thing, you always want to look at all the people, and pick the best person.”

Glenn Schuldt

Schuldt has been president of the Lake Linden village council for eight years, after previously serving eight years as trustee. He came to the Keweenaw from the Detroit area; his wife’s grandparents are from the area, and she had frequently spent summers here as a child.

Schuldt started as a union projectionist before moving to audiovisual work for Ford, and later taking a job with Wayne State University. After moving to Lake Linden, he worked as a real estate agent and broker before his current job as a title agent.

He’s married and has two children and two grandchildren.  

Asked why he wanted to run, Schuldt said he would like to use his village government experience at the county level.

“It’s almost like managing at the village level, but on a larger scale,” he said. “And we’ve been doing really good at the village level … I have very good integrity, I’m fiscally responsible, and I think I have some good thoughts about what we should do.”

Schuldt was staying open on options regarding the county jail. He liked the idea of building across the street, but recognized the proposed Sharon Avenue location would offer more room. Initially receptive to locating it at the former Camp Kitwen, he was persuaded of its unsuitability because of the huge costs of bringing the site up to shape and the expense involved in transportation. 

“Wherever you pick the location, if it’s in the city limits of Houghton, you’re not going to please everybody,” he said. 

On the issue of a second bridge, he also supported using an emergency bridge as a backup rather than constructing a new one. 

“They just spent oodles and oodles of time updating that bridge, the motors and all the sensors,” he said. “…I don’t think it would be feasible unless somebody gives us a lot of money, and I don’t think the state is going to build this bridge.”

As the county considers how to spend $6.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act money, Schuldt said he would evaluate spending based on what would provide the most benefit to the most people in the county.

“You’ve got to make sure you’re spending money in the right, proper way, that it’s going to benefit all, and not just a few,” he said. 

Asked what things the county could do to encourage more businesses or people moving to the area, Schuldt said much of that would go on at the city, village or township level. As an example of the role the county can play, he pointed to the industrial park at the county airport. 

Having grown up out of the area, Schuldt said he would be able to bring fresh ideas to the county board. He also said he would not take a rigid ideological approach to the position.

“I’m very conservative, but not ultraconservative,” he said. “I’m willing to hear other people’s ideas, no matter what their affiliation is, and how to take care of whatever the issue is.”