Houghton County Board Chairman Tom Tikkanen, right, and Vice Chairman Roy Britz were reappointed to their roles at the start of Tuesday’s meeting. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The leadership at the top of the Houghton County board will carry over from last year.

The board unanimously selected Tom Tikkanen for a two-year term as chairman, and Roy Britz for a one-year term as vice chairman. Commissioners Glenn Anderson and Gretchen Janssen respectively nominated and seconded both officers.

“Thanks for your confidence,” Tikkanen, the former board vice chair who succeeded the late Al Koskela as board chair in 2022, told the rest of the board. “I’ll try not to disappoint.”

In other action, the board:

Heard a 2024 update from Building Department Director Todd LaRoux. In 2024, 450 building permits were issued, the highest number since at least 2017. The total cost of construction — $75,343,269 — was behind on the $77,383,211 from 2023, which itself was more than $30 million higher than the third-largest year of that period. 2024 also saw the construction of 117 new homes, down from 111 last year; the number had been 43 as recently as 2020.

Heard from Tikkanen that Omega House is longer approved for Veterans Administration hospice or palliative care. The Veterans Service board has drafted a letter to U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters to see if the issue can be corrected.

The change occurred with the passage of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act at the start of the year.

“They may very well bring that effort to the Board of Commissioners to reach out to our legislators to get that corrected as quickly as possible,” Tikkanen said.

Heard a report from Human Resources and Operations Manager Teresa Hill on a county-wide wage and job analysis survey, the first since 1996. The county is collecting job descriptions from across the departments to see what the county currently has and what the needs will eventually be, Hill said.

Received a statement of appointments from Prosecuting Attorney Dan Helmer. Hilary Baker was reappointed as chief assistant prosecutor. Helmer also made three more appointments: Rebecca Wakeham as office manager and child support specialist, Jennifer Kivela as victim advocate and Angela Miles as legal assistant. An assistant prosecuting attorney position has been authorized, but has not yet been filled.

Heard from Sheriff Joshua Saaranen the jail was at 18 inmates after having dipped to the 20s during the holidays. The new jail committee planned to hold a follow-up session Thursday morning.