The County of Gogebic has filed a lawsuit against five Upper Peninsula Counties .

GOGEBIC COUNTY, Mich. - The County of Gogebic has filed a Circuit Court lawsuit against five Upper Peninsula Counties that comprised the Western Upper Michigan Manpower Consortium.  Those counties are Houghton, Keweenaw, Baraga, Iron, and Ontonagon.  The Consortium was responsible for job training and development in the Western Upper Peninsula for several decades. In 2012/2014 all UP job training and development was turned over to a single agency, UPWARD Talent, headquartered in Escanaba.  At the time the Western UP Consortium was disbanded, Gogebic raised questions with the state of Michigan as to who would be responsible for any shortfall in funding the pension plan of retirees of the Consortium.  According to Gogebic County, they believed that they had credible assurances of State help since the State allowed an audit of the pension plan which the State paid for after the Consortium was disbanded.  Gogebic County also said that the State had entirely funded the program throughout the years the Consortium served the Western Upper Peninsula.  Gogebic County Board Chairman, Daniel Siirila said, “It is with great reluctance that we have filed suit against our partners in The Consortium. We believe the State’s refusal to help is consistent with the State’s decades long practice of shifting its costs to local government. Gogebic County cannot afford to cover what is now an $800,000 shortfall in the pension plan of public servants who devoted their careers to job development in the Western UP.”  He goes on to say in the release, “To the extent that the State of Michigan does not assume this extreme financial burden, the Counties which were part of this Consortium must each pay their fair share of these legacy costs.