Commissioners:

As you are all aware, I have filed a lawsuit in Federal Court contending that the County failed to comply with the Open Meeting Agreement and that the decision to take control of the FBO from a private operator was arbitrary and capricious in that it was done in a manner that “Shocks the conscience”.

In preparation for this lawsuit and other actions that may follow over 300 hours has been spent reviewing Board minutes, watching Board and committee meetings, interviewing people who are committee members and reviewing over 700 documents procured through the FOIA process.

I have taken the time to construct the story of how Commission got to the point of approving the takeover of a private business without proper procedure and due diligence. I believe this decision has put Marquette County at risk of financial distress and even the possibility of losing commercial air service.

I hope that reading this summary will give you insight to how we got here. I ask you to determine for yourselves if the process and the decisions meet the standards that the state has laid out for such a decision. I ask that you trust that I have zero interest in creating a fight that isn’t warranted. I have a great life full of loving children, a parent who is in hospice at 90 and three beautiful grandchildren. I am financially secure. I got involved and have invested hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars when the decision the Board was considering made me realize from my vast experience in aviation was going to put the County at risk. I also realized the people who were making the decision, regardless of motivation, had zero aviation experience, and, for the most part, almost no experience in starting and running a business. Given the implications of these decisions on the health and vibrancy of the county and how wrong-headed I view the decisions; I took it upon myself to do what I could to address my concerns. When it became clear that the Board and, in particular, Chairman Joe Derocha were not listening to members of the community who actually have experience building businesses and in aviation, legal action was the only tool available to stop what was happening until further research can be completed.

Here is what I have learned:

In July of 2023, the county did a thorough analysis of the proposal to take over the FBO from the existing FBO contractor, Boreal Aviation. The Board concluded:

The County does not have an experienced FBO manager, trained fuel line employees, or the equipment necessary to provide FBO services. In terms ofequipment, the County would need, at a minimum, fueling trucks, tugs, a self-fuel station, aviation fuel bulk storage, and de-icing equipment. Even if equipment and personnel were ultimately acquired from Boreal, the logistics involved would strain County resources and put the FBO operation at risk. In staff’s opinion, the risk of delay in aviation services is unacceptable under this option and could have an adverse effect on commercial service out of Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport (“Airport”). – Board Minutes July 5, 2023

No substantial due diligence has occurred in the intervening time leading up to the current decision thereby making the decision to proceed extremely risky as indicated in 2023. In fact, it should be noted that with only two months from the planned handoff takeover, the county does not have “an experienced FBO manager, trained fuel line employees, or the equipment necessary to provide FBO services nor does the county have fueling trucks, tugs, a self-fuel station, aviation fuel bulk storage, and de-icing equipment” The conclusion of July 2023 that “the risk of delay in aviation services is unacceptable under this option and could have an adverse effect on commercial service out of Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport” still stands.

This decision is particularly risky in that there has been no Plan B discussed by the Board in the event they fail to meet their launch deadline. This could mean airliners can’t service Marquette due to lack of fueling resources.

It is also notable that in July 2023 the decision to terminate Boreal Aviation was done in accordance with OMA. A public hearing was held. A roll call vote was taken, and the motion was approved 4-1 by the County Commission. The one dissenting vote was from Joe DeRocha who argued that the profits of the FBO should accrue to the County and not a private operator. Commissioner Derocha did not comment on the study showing the County didn’t have the skills to operate an FBO. (See 'JD Dissenting to Kubic 07052023' video below)

Joe DeRocha has made it abundantly clear that he believes that the County should address operating deficits by taking over valuable assets (private businesses) thereby seizing the profits for the good of the County. Setting that aside the legality, as good as the concept may sound it is only as good as the ability of the County to operate the businesses they take over. At least one Commissioner isn’t sure that is even possible based on his experience in general.

As Chairman Derocha points out (See 'JB Money Guy' video below) he is not an airport guy, he is the money guy. I would suggest that it is far easier to lose money in an airport business when you aren’t an airport guy than it is to make money. Based on the fight the 2023 FBO change over created Chairman Derocha likely realized that the same process would face stiff headwinds (to use an aviation term). It appears he came up with a seemingly devious plan to get the Board to approve and FBO takeover without doing the hard work to determine if it could be done successfully. A tall task given the Board is going to want hard data to make a decision and that Joe doesn’t even know what work product would be required to satisfy the Board. (See 'Commissions hav no data about County running FBO copy' video below)

Here is the sequence of events that led the County Commission to approve the takeover of Kubick Aviation:

1) October 27, 2025 the County Counsel, apparently on the direction of County Administrator Duane Duray and with the full support of Board Chairman Joe Derocha notified Kubick Aviation that the Marquette County was terminating the FBO contract. The County Board, the Airport Advisory Committee and the Airport Finance committee were unaware of this decision and action. In subsequent meeting Chairman Derocha indicated that he had been made aware the Administrator had the write to make this decision unilaterally. (See 'Joe tells airport committee that the fin committee recommends county runs FBO' video below)

2) On November 10th, 2025 The Airport Finance Committee held its initial meeting since being formed. This meeting was a closed meeting, with no video and no formal minutes. Joe Derocha, who Chairs this committee provided his summary of the meeting (attached) which included the following recommendation:

a. “Finance committee was made aware that county administrator has given a contractual notice to quit (6 month)(sic) without cause to Kubick Aviation. Finance Committee recommends this critical service to be provided solely by Marquette County and not put out to the private sector. This would allow Marquette County to be fully in control of the service. It provides to (sic) the customers and allow (sic)the county to generate a profit center for the good of Marquette Sawyer Regional Airport. It was also fully agreed this alliance with our objective and goals that we have set in place.”

A subsequent discussion with a member of the Finance Committee resulted in the following statement:

I have not copied any other board members on this to avoid any potential OMA violations. I have also not copied the County Commission to avoid putting them in a situation of OMA violation.I attended the finance committee meeting in November. The information that was presented to us at the finance committee meeting were copies of contracts with the following entities:

• Envoy

• Gwinn Golf

• Kubick

• Vandamme

• Avis Car Rental

• National Car Rental

There were also copies of the revenue and expenditure statements for the airport for 2024 with very little detail or context. Lastly, a table of the lease revenue for FY25 was provided, again with generic detail.

The information regarding the FBO agreement with Kubick was limited to the contract and monthly totals. The rest was provided verbally from Chairman Derocha who indicated Kubick was not meeting their contractual requirements and the County was losing the opportunity for revenue. We were informed that a letter was already sent to Kubick with the intent to terminate the contract. I remember that detail specifically as I felt useless and wondered why I’m on the finance committee or even on the advisory board if decisions are already made by the County Commission (assuming they voted on it). After the finance meeting, I reviewed County Commission meeting agendas for the previous two months to see when the Commission voted on it but was unable to find it as it was not discussed until the end of November.

I watched the County Commission’s Special Meeting on November 25th. The information that Commissioner Numinen shared appeared to be more than what we received and reviewed at the finance committee level. I commend the Commissioners that questioned the analysis done and asked for more information.

Unfortunately, I may have been overly confident in the assumption that the County’s operations and proposed changes are heavily vetted by all departments (Airport manager, County Administrator, HR, legal counsel, finance, etc.) before Commission decision. I think if it were truly vetted by all levels, there would have been a supporting analysis or documentation presented.3) 4) 5) The County may have the right to terminate the contract without a vote by the Commission, but I’d rely on a legal opinion for that. Just because they have the right to do it, doesn’t mean it is right to do it without the public transparency component.

3) On November 13th, 2025, the Airport Advisory Committee, led by Chairman Joe Derocha convened the third meeting of this committee since he created it after disbanding the prior Airport Advisory Committee. This was a public meeting with formal minutes and a video. Chairman Derocha read the Finance Committee’s recommendation on the FBO take over (see above). He then opined on the topic of the airport needing to be self sustaining and how this FBO takeover was critical for achieving this objective. He asked the committee for comments and questions. Hearing none a motion was made to approve the Finance Committees recommendation. It passed unanimously. The total review and discussion took just 6 minutes! (See 'Nov13Airport Committee' video below)

4) On November 25th, 2025, A special session of the Marquette County Commission, also Chaired by Joe Derocha, was held to discuss the termination of Kubick and the potential takeover. During the November 25th, 2025 County Commission meeting, which was exclusively devoted to this topic, Commissioners Alhom, Nordeen, LaLone repeatedly stated that there was not enough information to support the takeover of the FBO by the County. (See 'Commissions have no data about County running FBO' video below)

Note these comments lasted longer than the entire introduction, discussion and ratification of this decision by the Airport Advisory Committee on November 13th, 2025! Chairman Derocha asked Commissioner Karl Numinen to opine the concern of the lack of information. (See 'Karl Numinen on Airport and Finance Committee' video below)

Commissioner Numinen clearly states that the committees are comprised of experts to advise the Commission of what to do in this matter. They have considered all the information to be considered, and both unanimously recommend the Commission support this decision. Both Commissioner Nordeen and Alhom credited Commissioner Nurminen for their vote of support. A review of both the Airport Finance Committee and Advisory Committee deliberations above tell a completely different story

5) On the 25th the proposed budget was made available to the Commissioners, but it was not discussed, other to say it showed a $1.8m profit from this endeavor. (See '$1.8m profit' video below) We obtained the model through an FOIA request and discovered a substantial error which we believe changes the $1.8 million to a loss of nearly $300k! In a “Word on the Street article on this topic Commissioner Nurminen stated that the County stands by its numbers. A subsequent FOIA request provided an updated model which shows a $1m REDUCTION in estimated profit. Our analysis says it is still wrong. Further, during the 25th meeting there was a handwritten note provided to the Commissioners estimating fuel trucks at $65,000. As you will hear tonight the most recent number is $800k for three trucks!

Summary

Chairman Derocha appears to have masterminded the termination and takeover of a private FBO business thereby disintermediating profits and redirecting them to the county without complying with OMA or due diligence . Specifically he 1) approved the termination of Kubick to occur without debate or Board approval and 2) setup and Chaired two “expert”committees and 3) allowed the Airport Finance committee to meet privately with no minutes, no public debate or rollcall vote and generate a recommendation to terminate and takeover the FBO from a private contractor with virtually no due diligence 4) convinced the Airport Advisory Committee to approve the undocumented work of the Airport Finance Committee and 5) seemingly convinced a skilled lawyer to misrepresent the work of his two committees in a manner that swayed two of three Commissioners who said publicly that Commissioner Numinen’s comments where the reason they changed their vote to support the takeover.

It is imperative that Marquette County Commission put this decision, which was obviously based on false pretenses, on hold. Frankly the magnitude of what was done to force this decision on the Commission shocks the conscience.

Thank You for your consideration and prompt attention to this matter.

Regards

Mark Hangen