Members of the Baraga Village Council, Wendell Dompier (center) is retiring from his role as village president and will be succeeded by Trustee Scott Koski (far left). Dompier has served the village council as its leader for 26 years. (Ben Garbacz/Daily Mining Gazette)

The Baraga Village Council held its monthly meeting on Nov. 12 with a sendoff to its long serving Village President Wendell Dompier. Dompier had been a staple to the village’s leadership for 26 years and had been involved in many of its large developments and projects including the village marina, boardwalk, lowering rates via purchasing power from WPPI and striving to improve overall village infrastructure.

“I’m proud to have served on this board with everybody,” Dompier told the council and village attendees. “There’s couple here that have been on boards longer than me, but I think we’ve all done a great job– the department included, and workers. So I am leaving, but I’m proud of what we did.”

The meeting began with an Anderson & Tackman audit from Michael Grentz, who had presented the findings. The general fund of the village broke even at about $50,000 gain. Projects that the villager had conducted resulted in $100,000 hit to major and local street funds. There was a $150,000 loss in the water fund but $350,000 worth of depreciation expense for the current year.

The village’s police reported that they had attended mandatory MCOLES training for resolution techniques and will be training for active shooters in December. Village Manager LeAnn LeClaire then reported that pickle ball court fences are planned to be installed in the spring and that the grant that the village applied for regarding security cameras for $5,000 only pulled through $2,500. LeClaire said however that the amount will still be helpful and ease the cost for the cameras for the village. She then concluded her report with the village ordering 25 tons of salt for the upcoming winter.

The village then approved to contribute $1,000 to the Baraga Fire Department Kids’ Christmas Party and a new stove for the Fire Department for $1,299. The council then approved to buy water heaters for the Keweenaw Bay Hockey Association and to pay the bills when funds become available.