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Ely tables support of RAMS

Waits to hear ethics ruling of senator’s role in leadership

Keith Vandervort
Posted 1/22/15

ELY – The Ely City Council’s recent action to continue membership in the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools (RAMS) was reversed this week.

Mayor Chuck Novak asked the council to …

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Ely tables support of RAMS

Waits to hear ethics ruling of senator’s role in leadership

Posted

ELY – The Ely City Council’s recent action to continue membership in the Range Association of Municipalities and Schools (RAMS) was reversed this week.

Mayor Chuck Novak asked the council to recommit the earlier action to pay the $700 annual dues and then asked for the issue to be tabled for future deliberation.

“We talked about the only reason (to stay in RAMS) was in support of Sen. Tomassoni and that he could take care of some of the inequities that RAMS has experienced,” Novak said.

“There’s now been a call for a legal opinion from the campaign finance group to look at if it is improper for him to have a seat as a state senator and be the executive director or RAMS, which basically is a lobbying group,” he said.

He referred to an editorial in a regional newspaper, which referred to the arrangement as “corruption.”

“This has gotten heated down in St. Paul and my direction at this point is to have someone recommit the issue back to the table and we can bring the issue back up for debate and maybe at this time it is best to table the issue before we make the payment and rejoin RAMS,” Novak said.

Jerome Debeltz made the motion to recommit the issue.

Paul Kess did not agree with the motion. “I think many organizations experience ups and downs,” he said. “As most of us know, Sen. Tomassoni is a fair and honest man and I think he can bring some stability to RAMS. I think it is important that we retain our membership within these kinds of organizations despite any internal difficulties they may have. The organization is bigger than any one individual.”

Novak added, “When I was going to RAMS meetings, we had a very disappointing meeting one time. The president of RAMS brought in a charter school for a presentation and the school districts were rather unhappy to the point that that president resigned shortly thereafter.”

Kess countered, “My support for it is conditional on some sense of a ruling by the campaign finance board. As I understand it, Sen. Tomassoni as executive would be providing administrative duties only and will not be participating in the lobbying portion of RAMS. I would hope that meets the criteria that the committees are considering and I think that puts the organization on a more sound footing.”

“That’s why I speak in opposition to tabling the matter,” he said. “I think we need to show our support for the organization.”

Albert Forsman said that RAMS “has had significant value and I think it would be a little knee-jerk to pull out this quickly.”

Debeltz questioned whether the opposition to Tomassoni was “just a personality thing” or something else.

Novak said, “The point that is being made is that you have a sitting senator who is taking a position in an organization whose sole duty is to lobby the legislature on which he sits. There is a perception that that is not a good thing.”

“I’m not challenging his veracity or anything,” Novak continued. “I have high respect for him. I bring this up because we are expending our membership dues before this whole thing is settled. We don’t know what the end result is gong to be, depending on the ruling.”

Kess stressed his opposition to the action. “If the ruling is such that (Tomassoni) is not able to continue, then he’ll make his choice, and we will still want to be a member of RAMS,” he said. “And if the ruling is that he can do it, we will still want to be a member of RAMS. So I think we should continue our membership in RAMS regardless of the outcome.”

Novak said he queried the council and city staff about what issues the city presented to RAMS that were really fought for. “I understand the schools have had a lot of issues that were supported through RAMS, but what issues have the municipalities had?”

Novak also questioned what the response for the payment of dues has been from other communities. “From what I can tell, we are the only community that has supported moving forward.”

The motion to recommit the issue to the table passed on a 5-2 vote with Kess and Al Forsman voting in opposition.

A motion to table the issue until the campaign finance board gives an opinion was passed on a 5-2 vote with Kess and Al Forsman in opposition.

City Hall sirens

The renovation of City Hall has resulted in a need to replace the 60- to 80-year-old civil defense and fire sirens on top of the building. Council members struggled with paying more than $20,000 for a perceived outdated and unneeded warning system.

The council approved the expenditure last year as part of capital projects.

Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski explained that the civil defense siren, turned on by a switch, sounds like one continuous wail and the fire siren has the different tones and iscontrolled by a box in the basement with rotating contacts and has been disconnected as part of the building’s renovation. “That is something that we cannot reconnect,” he said.

The bid from DSC Communications, of Superior, Wis., includes $16,105 for materials and $4,379 for wiring and installation. “We would wire the controls and switches inside the fire department and they would control the siren as to whether it is a fire call or for civil defense,” Langowski said.

Ely Police Chief John Lahtonen said the siren was used primarily when the mine was in operation to get people to the fire hall. “That was the sole purpose for it,” he said. “Now we have paging systems. We have radios. It is a novelty having the old siren. It’s historic. It’s tradition. This is something we don’t need.”

Novak said he questioned the members of the volunteer fire department. “The pagers don’t always work,” he said. Some pagers react and some don’t. We need to have regular paging tests.”

Lahtonen added, “How far can you hear that siren? If you are a mile out of town, you’re not going to hear it.”

Langowski said the civil defense siren would continue to be in operation whether or not the fire siren is replaced.

The council approved the expenditure.