Marquette County’s 911 dispatch software is not Tyler Technologies and it is not Motorola Solutions. It is CentralSquare, shared with six other Upper Peninsula counties, and on August 18 the county board voted 6-0 to accept responsibility for an estimated $35,306.11 to keep it running for three more months while the other six counties move off it.
That detail matters because coverage of this dispute has not been consistent about which vendor the county is on. County Administrator Duane DuRay’s August 13 memo to the board settles it: “Marquette County currently operates its CAD system through Central Square in partnership with the other six counties within the UP 911 Authority: Alger, Chippewa, Delta, Dickinson, Iron, and Menominee.”
What was actually approved, and when
On February 3 the county board voted 5-0 to authorize the Central Dispatch director “to begin contractual discussions, and develop proposed contract language” with the Michigan Public Safety Communications System and Motorola Solutions. The minutes record that the board chair “identified potential legal issues involving the leading vendor” in the original bid process, that an alternative came through MPSCS with Motorola, and that the county projected “cost savings in excess of $500,000.”
The vendor with the legal issues is not named in the minutes, and TV6 reported on August 18 that county staff were still working on final contract language.
The August 18 vote bought time. The other Authority counties are proceeding with Tyler Technologies for Enterprise CAD, with a changeover estimated for May 2027. The Motorola build is estimated at 12 months. Marquette County agreed to cover the three-month gap on CentralSquare support on its own.
What the city asked for
The Marquette City Commission passed its resolution on Monday, August 31, not September 1. It urges the county to join the North CAD Group and adopt Tyler. The Mining Journal’s account of the debate cites “the other 14 counties of the Upper Peninsula,” a count we did not find in the county’s August 18 minutes. Tyler’s own April 1 announcement names eight U.P. counties: Chippewa, Luce, Mackinac, Alger, Delta, Menominee, Dickinson and Iron.
City Commissioner Cody Mayer raised a different point, reported by the Mining Journal: “we have three tribal nations, two of which are very active in Marquette County and have tribal police in Marquette County, who fall under and use the state police’s dispatch system.” He did not name the tribes.
What happens when you dial 911 in Marquette County
The Michigan State Police Negaunee Regional Dispatch center at 180 US-41 East in Negaunee handles 911 for Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw, Ontonagon and Schoolcraft counties. Marquette County Central Dispatch is the county operation replacing its CAD system.
The software at issue is computer-aided dispatch, the incident record a dispatcher builds once the call is answered. According to the National 911 Program, call-handling equipment and CAD are separate systems in most 911 centers.
Lyn Nelson told TV6 that under the shared system a neighboring center can “do everything for that caller.” Undersheriff Lowell Larson told the board on August 18 he was disappointed the policy board was not included in the decision.
Named sources: Marquette County Board of Commissioners packet, August 18, 2026, item 10f, memo of County Administrator Duane DuRay dated August 13; Marquette County Board minutes, February 3 and August 18, 2026; Marquette City Commission packet, August 31, 2026; Tyler Technologies news release, April 1, 2026; Michigan 911 Committee PSAP list; TV6 report of August 18, 2026; Mining Journal, September 2, 2026.
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Sources, credits, and reporting details
Sources & accountability
How this story was reported
Editorial methodAggregation
Last verifiedNot yet recorded
Corrections statusNo material correction note is recorded on this article.
AI assistanceResearched and drafted with AI tools. Reviewed and approved by editor Keegan O’Brien.
Verification note: Sep 26, 2026: source rows added. Live text corrected the same day: "Just Paid" to "Just Agreed to Pay"; Tyler "signed" to "proceeding"; added Gogebic to MSP Negaunee list; cut unsourced shared-building, Chippewa rollover, Derocha quote, "not signed", city-resolution distribution and "14 of 15 appears nowhere" claims; Nelson title dropped. USMC dispatch-console image credit unverified (no Commons match). RESOLVED Sep 27: row 8 (city resolution date) re-sourced to the City Commission's own Aug 31 CivicClerk agenda (item 8), confirmed by direct primary-source review, replacing the inferred meeting-schedule row. USMC dispatch-console image: searched Wikimedia Commons for a match; the one candidate found (File:USMC-11155.jpg, MCLB Albany radio console, 2011) does not match the photo on file (different scene — a seated female dispatcher, not the two-men demonstration in USMC-11155). No genuine Commons source exists for the uploaded file; credit was unverifiable. Image cut from the article per house rule 5 rather than left with an unverified attribution.
Primary sources
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Marquette County Board of Commissioners regular meeting minutes, August 18, 2026 (item 10f, Central Square Interim Use Subscription) — Marquette County
Published Aug. 18, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Read in Chrome. Board action: "accepts responsibility for the estimated remaining three months of Central Square CAD support at a cost of $35,306.11, subject to adjustment … Motion adopted (6-0)". The article headline previously said "Just Paid"; changed to "Just Agreed to Pay". Minutes reproduce the memo text; the memo itself is dated Aug 13 per the packet.
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Marquette County Board packet, August 18, 2026 (memo of County Administrator Duane DuRay dated August 13) — Marquette County
Published Aug. 13, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Sentence confirmed verbatim in the minutes (row 1). The memo date of Aug 13 was read through a fetch tool and not opened by us.
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Marquette County Board of Commissioners regular meeting minutes, February 3, 2026 (item 11a, 911 Central Dispatch CADD Upgrade) — Marquette County
Published Feb. 3, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Read in Chrome, page 4.
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Tyler Technologies: Michigan's Upper Peninsula 911 Authority Selects Tyler Technologies' Enterprise CAD and Enterprise Mobile Solutions — Tyler Technologies
Published Apr. 1, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Read through a fetch tool. The release also names four northern Lower Peninsula counties.
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Michigan State Police: Regional Communications Centers — Michigan State Police
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Article listed five counties and omitted Gogebic; corrected. Claims that the two centers share a building, that calls roll to Chippewa County, and that county dispatch covers Marquette city police were not sourced and were cut.
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National 911 Program / NHTSA: Computer-Aided Dispatch Interoperability Strategies for the Future — National 911 Program, NHTSA
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Supports: Call-handling equipment and CAD are separate systems in most 911 centers.
"Currently, 911 CHE and CAD are two disparate systems in the vast majority of ECCs." Read through a fetch tool.
Additional reporting
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Mining Journal: Marquette City Commission urges Marquette County to transfer dispatch services to Tyler Technologies CAD — Mining Journal
Published Sep. 2, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Reported attribution only (what the Mining Journal printed). Mayer quote: "we have three tribal nations, two of which are very active in Marquette County and have tribal police in Marquette County, who fall under and use the state police's dispatch system." Read through a fetch tool. City packet not opened, so the resolution's own text (including certified-copy distribution) was removed from the article.
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TV6: Marquette County board hears concerns over potential 911 CAD service provider switch — WLUC TV6
Published Aug. 18, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
Reported attribution only. Read through a fetch tool; excerpts partly paraphrased there. The Derocha quote the article carried could not be found and was cut.
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City of Marquette CivicClerk: City Commission Regular Meeting agenda, August 31, 2026 (item 8, CAD Resolution) — City of Marquette
Published Aug. 31, 2026. Accessed Sep. 26, 2026.
RESOLVED Sep 27: opened the city's own CivicClerk agendas-and-minutes portal directly in Chrome and confirmed the item on the face of the August 31, 2026 agenda PDF (item 8, sidebar labeled "CAD Resolution"). This replaces the earlier inference from the recurring meeting schedule. City packet (20260831.AgendaPacketCC) and the approved minutes (08-31-26.cc.minutes, posted under the Sep 14 meeting per the portal's own retroactive-posting convention) are both listed on the portal but were not opened — the agenda item itself is sufficient to confirm the date; the minutes would only confirm the vote tally, which the article does not currently state as a number.
Photo and media credits
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2009-0618-UP-MarquetteCtyCourthouse.jpg (Commons, Bobak Ha'Eri) — Wikimedia Commons
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026. CC BY 3.0.
Supports: Courthouse photo credit: Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0.
Author and licence confirmed by Commons API; site copy matched by author and subject, not pixel-matched.
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Marquette from Mount Marquette.jpg (Commons, Steven Fine) — Wikimedia Commons
Accessed Sep. 26, 2026. CC BY-SA 4.0.
Supports: Photo credit: Steven Fine, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Author and licence confirmed by Commons API.
