ELY – City council members here unanimously agreed to commit taxpayer dollars and work with other area governments and the Ely Area Ambulance Joint Powers Board to purchase a vacant building in town to serve as the new home of the Ely Area Ambulance Service.
The city of Ely, Morse Township, Fall Lake Township and the city of Winton appear to be in agreement to chip in the funds necessary to purchase the building at the corner of Central Avenue and Chapman Street that previously housed Kondos Outdoors.
The purchase price for the building that would serve as a garage for emergency vehicles and living quarters for on-call emergency medical technicians is roughly $460,000. Renovations needed to the facility could cost more than $100,000.
Equal shares of $150,000 from each main governmental entity, plus $11,500 from the city of Winton, will need to be paid to the Ambulance Joint Powers Board before an anticipated real estate closing purchase closing date of Aug. 1.
“As owners, we will have to develop a fiscal agent to deal with the financial aspects of the real estate purchase and then have a way to lease the building to the ambulance service,” Ely Mayor Roger Skraba said Tuesday night.
A recent proposal for a new ambulance and public safety facility was estimated to cost more than $3 million. Future expansion plans for the Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital will displace the ambulance garage currently located on the southwest corner of the medical facility’s campus.
At a special Ambulance Joint Powers Board earlier on Tuesday, it was revealed that the Town of Morse already contributed a portion of their committed funds in order for the ambulance service to occupy the building. The on-call staff and ambulance are already operating from the facility.
On-call staff were using a rental house for on-call staffing at a cost of $1,200 per month. Ambulance Service Director Dusty Moravitz said that the one-year lease to rent the house was up for renewal, and it made sense to occupy the new facility as soon as possible with the purchase closing date imminent.
The new facility has a bathroom, kitchen area with refrigerator, sleeping area and internet service. Moravitz said they purchased a new stove and microwave oven.
“The staff is sleeping there. The morale is improved greatly. We had an ambulance call out of the building last weekend,” he said.
In another move Tuesday night, city council members unanimously agreed to have city staff assist with the set-up of the fiscal agent capability for the Ambulance Joint Powers Board to purchase the building.
“If we don’t do this, the Morse Township clerk agreed to assist in getting this all set up,” Skraba said.
Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski and City Attorney Kelly Klun were directed to develop the necessary legal and financial apparatus.
Council member Al Forsman asked to see the contract.
“We don’t have a contract yet because first we all have to decide to do this,” Skraba said. “It is a fast-moving thing. There are so many moving parts to this. We talked about the operating budget, fixing the building if something happens, insurance, property taxes ($4,300 per year), and how we are going to divide this. We have answers for most of it.”
Area governmental entities would continue to ask taxpayers to fund the area ambulance service operations with annual payments on a per capita basis.
Langowski said that he will discuss the city’s financial commitment with the budget committee this week.
“We don’t have any money allocated for this purchase,” he said. “They can recommend to the council to make a transfer from our reserves to the project fund to make this happen. We have quite a bit to do here in the next couple of weeks.”
The council’s next regular meeting is Tuesday July 19.
“Or we can have a special council meeting (on Aug. 28) if we need to,” he said.
City Attorney Klun, who is also on the Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital board, added, “The hospital is happy to see this arrangement come into place.”
Minnesota’s two U.S. Senators, Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, continue to lobby for ambulance service funding of as much as $3.5 million for the Ely area to build a new ambulance and emergency services facility. The Ambulance Joint Powers Board will also be applying to the Minnesota Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation (IRRR) for funding.
“This seems like the direction that will work until something else happens,” Skraba said. “To keep moving in this direction is a positive. It is better than renting a building here and having the ambulance garage over there.”
Council member Heidi Omerza asked if city staff will be reimbursed for their fiscal and financial work.
“Right now it is just a matter of getting it done,” Langowski said. “Is this going to take 100 hours or five hours? I don’t know if we can get this done by Aug. 1. It could be very simple or it could be very complicated. We’ll play it by ear.”
Skraba added. “We are hoping the hospital board will share the burden.”