MARQUETTE -- When Air Force jets soared out of Sawyer for the last time in 1995, they left with a lot of cargo--millions of dollars and thousands of residents.

Marquette County leaders knew they were facing a crisis, and that's how the Lake Superior Community Partnership came to be; a public/private partnership to save the county.

"You know a lot of times new ideas are born out of crisis, and this was one of those situations in Marquette County," said Amy Clickner, Partnership C.E.O.

"They wanted to have a bigger entity that would be more with economic development," said Chamber president, Dr. Bruce Turino.

And in its 13 year history, the Partnership has fostered big business growth.  Cliffs Natural Resources says the group, with a united front, has created efficiency.

"There was way too much duplication of services, and it seemed to make a lot of sense," said spokesman, Dale Hemmila.

But in recent months, the promise and the praise of the Partnership have dimmed, most notably with the redevelopment of the Greater Ishpeming-Negaunee Chamber of Commerce.  Communities in the western part of county felt they were living in the shadows of Marquette businesses.

"We started up again because we needed some grass roots involvement in spearheading projects within the community," Turino said.

Since the Chamber's revival, the city of Ishpeming has pulled $4,000 from the Partnership and is now funding the Chamber instead.

So how is the Partnership handling the news?  They seem optimistic.

"Anytime you lose a member, it's disappointing, but you learn from it and you learn where you need to grow and do a better job, so I look at it as an opportunity for us to better ourselves," Clickner said.

But how about the big elephant in the room:  is there any friction between the two entities?

"No," Clickner said.

"There's tension just because we're taking away some of the jobs that they were doing," Turino said.  "I mean it's human nature."

"Some of the founders of the Partnership, the ones that came up with the idea, maybe feel a little bit hurt or this was my baby, we created this, and now there's some separation," said Elizabeth Peterson, Director of the Chamber.

But both groups seem to agree they can coexist.  The Partnership will likely handle the big economic issues in the county.  The new Chamber will tend to the individual needs of its members in western Marquette County.  If both groups succeed, the entire county wins.