ELY- The national problem of retaining law enforcement professionals has come home to roost in Ely, as the third patrol officer in less than four months resigned in mid-November.
At its Nov. 21 meeting, the Ely City Council accepted the resignation of Officer Zachary Ward, who is leaving to accept a position in Winona. City council member Jerome Debeltz moved to send Ward a letter of thanks for his service to the city, a motion the council approved unanimously.
Former Ely Police Officer David Wimmer resigned in October. At the time, Police Chief Chad Houde was able to hire Courtney Schurhammer and two other part-time officers to shore up Ely’s normally seven-person force. The city is actively advertising for more officers.
The city council approved a budget committee recommendation for Houde to develop a recruitment and retention plan for the department, which may be difficult since wages are one of the two major drivers for retaining employees according to a recent Gallup Poll report, the other being workplace environment. Ely shares a problem with many other rural Minnesota law enforcement agencies: non-competitive wages.
The wage problem is not immediately obvious when looking at wage patterns for patrol officers. Minnesota ranks eleventh in the nation for the highest law enforcement wages, according to the most recent data available (May 2022) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a mean hourly wage for patrol officers of $36.74.
That average is skewed by the high pay offered by large Twin Cities police departments. Rural police departments can’t compete with the urban and suburban communities around the Twin Cities, Rochester, and Duluth. The mean hourly wage in the Twin Cities and its suburbs is $39.69, equivalent to $82,540 annually.
The patrol officer position posting on the city of Ely’s website advertises a starting hourly wage of “$29.95, reaching $33.58 by year two.” In addition, benefits include “health, dental, health savings, uniform allowance, 14 paid holidays, 2 personal days, vacation and sick leave.”
Houde’s officer recruitment and retention situation was not improved by the department’s failure to receive a U.S. Dept. of Justice COPS grant to fund a School Resource Officer (SRO) to serve at ISD 696. The department applied for the grant earlier this year but was not selected.
If the application had been successful, the $125,000 would have funded the SRO position for two years with a minimum required grant match of 25 percent from the city. The award statistics published by the DOJ for this year’s successful COPS grants, show that only four Minnesota communities received grants to hire new SROs, which was disproportionately low compared to most other states. Overall, states with the largest metropolitan areas received the majority of these grants.
Grace period for calendar parking now expired
The grace period for compliance with calendar parking here is now over. Ely Police Chief Houde told the city council at their Nov. 21 meeting that his department will now begin issuing citations for violations of the city ordinance. Calendar parking, which took effect Nov. 1, will remain in effect until May 31, or until the city council votes to lift it. During snowplow season, cars must park on the odd side of streets on odd numbered days, and on the even side on even days.
Other business
In other action, the city council:
• Heard the report of Cindy Smyka, who gave a presentation regarding local event support conducted by the Tourism Bureau. During a brief discussion after the presentation on visitor versus local support for Ely’s tourism-focused businesses, Mayor Heidi Omerza asked Smyka, “What can you do for locals?” Smyka replied succinctly, “reach out,” and briefly outlined ways to do so.
• Approved a recommendation by the Projects Committee for the city staff to work with the Ott family to draft a development agreement for the redevelopment of the former Ely Depot property.
• Noted that the city’s truth-in-taxation meeting for the budget will be on Dec. 5.
• Approved a recommendation of the Budget Committee to purchase a scan tool for the city’s shop for $4,790.
• Approved a recommendation of the Budget Committee to purchase a snow bucket for the skid steer for $1,590 from L and L Rental.
• Approved a recommendation of the Budget Committee to increase the 2023 Fire Department budget “to reflect the additional $16,000 received to cover training expenses. “This is state money we received,” said Fire Chief David Marshall. “We had $9,600 and we used it up. There was a reallocation (by the state) in June and we asked for more money. We should have asked for more because we got fully funded, which we didn’t expect.” Marshall explained that the state money was dedicated funding that had to be used for training.
• Approved the mortgage satisfaction for the Ely Steakhouse, recorded on Dec. 13, 2019, for their storefront rehabilitation loan.
• Discussed the situation at the Ely Senior Center. Linda Maki of the senior center wrote the city council, stating, “The senior center has been without heat for a week … Any help with the cost of the new pump and extra electric use would be appreciated.”
The city council did not discuss any additional funding for the senior center at the Nov. 21 meeting. Langowski informed the council, “The repair is on order and we will work with them,” to get the heating system fixed.
• Approved claims for payment for the city and the Ely Utilities Commission for $311,313; for the 2024 Range Association of Municipalities and Schools membership dues of $840; for an invoice from SEH of $21,188 for Prospector ATV trail development; and for an invoice of $10,819 from AE2S for work at the waste water treatment facility.
• Approved a resolution of support for the St. Louis County reconstruction project for Harvey Street. Langowski said, “We were hoping (the project would be) for 2024, but it will have to be 2025. We have to be patient for another year. Harvey is one of the several roads in Ely which the county, not the city, maintains.
• Approved a resolution to apply for funding from the Community Development Block Grant program for the Ely Water System Improvement Project.
• Approved the amendment and revision of the joint powers agreement with the Ely Area Lodging Tax Board. Council member Paul Kess informed the council, “This updates the agreement and modernizes the language.”
• Approved the hire of Premier Pyrotechnics to shoot the 2024 Fourth of July fireworks for $20,000.
• Heard the recommendation of Ely resident Frederica Musgrave during the open forum portion of the meeting that the city hold a third study session with the Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss Ely’s noise ordinance.