Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Baraga County Board Chair William Rolof opens the bid for a new administration building roof at the board’s meeting Monday night.

BARAGA — The Baraga County Board approved a bid for a new roof on the county’s administration building Monday.

The board accepted the sole bid of $118,400 bid from Nasi Roofing of Minocqua, Wis. A new DuraLast roof will be installed on the administration building, which County Clerk Wendy Goodreau said has been dealing with leaks.

The work is projected to be done in spring or summer of 2023. Funding will come through the county’s American Rescue Plan Act.

Other county organizations also made requests for ARPA funding Monday night. The county will add three video cameras at the jail for a cost of $2,650. Undersheriff Dave Miller said the jail’s recent upgrade included “phenomenal cameras,” but had left three blind spots inside and outside the jail.

The county will also spend $4,365 on the jail’s sprinkler system, coming from the sheriff’s department budget. The jail failed a recent inspection of its backflow system by the L’Anse Fire Department, Miller said.

Another issue will be addressed in next year’s budget. The interview room needs multiple upgrades, Miller said. The cameras and microphones in the room are providing “terrible” audio, while the computer system is outdated and difficult to download anything from.

“We had an interview that had to go to the attorney general’s office, and we downloaded everything,” he said. “…The audio is working, however it’s such poor quality you can’t make out anything.”

Under the law, the interview room must be on a separate computer system from the jail, Miller said.

That upgrade would cost $19,685. Commissioner Brad Dakota suggested waiting for the next budget year and investigating if there are ways to replace it for a lower price, pointing to similar upgrades at the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Tribal Court.

The board also tabled two other ARPA requests until next month, when it will have a clearer picture of next year’s budget.

The Baraga County Trails Authority is seeking money for trail signage, while local first responders are seeking to split $450,000 between eight fire departments in the county.

In other action, the board:

• Appointed Jennifer Misegan to the Baraga County Economic Development Corporation.

• Approved a letter of support for a proposed campground on M-38 near the Ottawa Sportsmen’s Club. The campground would have 40 sites, four cabins and a lodge.

• Approved changes to health insurance and retiree health insurance sections of the personnel handbook. The county moved to a new health insurance pool with other state entities including schools and municipalities. Retiree benefits change from coverage for the entire family to coverage for the retiree and spouse.

• Approved bids for liability insurance from Michigan Municipal Risk Management for $41,238 and snow removal. Two members abstained from the snow removal vote because of family connections.

• Went into closed session to discuss union negotiation. No action was taken when the meeting resumed.