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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Council finds multiple areas of disagreement

Catie Clark
Posted 1/23/25

ELY- Unanimity was in short supply at Tuesday’s Ely City Council meeting as members wrangled over state funding for a proposed cannabis dispensary and appointing members to a new city …

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Council finds multiple areas of disagreement

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ELY- Unanimity was in short supply at Tuesday’s Ely City Council meeting as members wrangled over state funding for a proposed cannabis dispensary and appointing members to a new city committee.
The cannabis issue centered around a preapplication for grant money from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Department for inside demolition work at the old bowling alley on Camp St. that developers plan to turn into a cannabis dispensary. The council approved the preapplication on a 6-1 vote, with council member John Lahtonen dissenting.
“I cannot support this,” Lahtonen said. “I do not believe that government funds should be going to support a business that will be selling marijuana.”
Ely Green Team
Appointing members to a new city committee proved fraught with challenges. The city council created the Ely Green Team committee on Nov. 12 to aid the city with its participation in Minnesota’s green steps program, on the recommendation of the Ely Climate Group. Ely is currently at step two and has been for years because no one in city government oversees the city’s involvement. The new committee is tasked with filling that role.
But filling four positions for resident and non-resident members of the eight-member committee on Tuesday proved difficult.
There were eight applicants for the four positions, two of whom — Megan Wind and Laurie Angell — submitted their applications late. Mayor Heidi Omerza decided that rather that debate the merits of all the applicants together, the council would vote on each of the applicants in the order they were listed in the city council’s agenda packet until the seats were filled.
Ely resident Mary Louise Icenhour was approved with a 6-1 vote, with Angela Campbell voting nay. Non-resident Jodi Chaffin was approved with a 4-3 vote with council members Campbell, Emily Roose, and Adam Bisbee dissenting. Celia Domich was approved with a 6-1 vote with Roose voting nay. The motion to approve non-resident Barbara Jones, the chair of the Ely Climate Group, did not receive a second so the council did not vote on her application.
The last seat was filled by resident Bill Tefft, well-known in Ely as the face of the Ely Field Naturalists.
Having filled all the open seats, other applications were never considered.
Filling out the seven voting seats on the Ely Green Team are council representative Roose, projects committee representative Mike Banovetz. Planning and zoning administrator, Scoot Kochendorfer will fill the one non-voting seat, while the EUC representative won’t be filled until the EUC meets next week, pending approval by the city council at its Feb. 4 meeting.
In other business, the city council:
• Approved the attendance of the city council and staff at the following events: the League of Minnesota Cities City Day on the Hill on March 6 in St. Paul, the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities Legislative Action Day on Feb. 12 in St. Paul, and the League of Minnesota Cities Safety and Loss Control workshops in Virginia on April 22. The city council also approved city clerical staff to attend the Municipal Clerks and Finance Officers Association annual conference on March 18-21 in Brooklyn Center.
• Approved advertising for bids for the inside demolition work at the former community center. The bids would be open on Feb. 18. The city has an IRRR grant for the demolition work. The private developer of the property will fund the remainder of the demolition costs. Because of the terms of the IRRR grant, the city is the fiscal agent for the work.
• Approved submitting a request to the Dept. of Natural Resources for the repair of the boat landing at Miners Lake.
• Approved providing a letter of support for a grant application to Lake Country Power for the Ely Giving Gardens project. The project is a volunteer effort by Ely’s master gardeners.
• Approved a service amendment for an amount not to exceed $9,000 for TKDA to complete the trailhead project.
• Authorized city staff to draft an ordinance to reduce the price of lots 9 and 10 in Sibley Court to $25,000 each and to also offer a combined price of $38,900 if they are sold together. These are the remaining lots the city has to sell at the Sibley Court extension in the Spaulding neighborhood. The two lots include wetlands which reduce the footprint available for building residences on the properties.
• Heard a report from planning and zoning chair Roose that the commission presented longtime member Tim Riley with a certificate of recognition for his years of service on the planning and zoning commission, as well as his time as planning and zoning administrator.
• Approved the subdivision of the property at the corner of E. Washington St. and 15th Ave. E. belonging to Mary and Newton Nickerson.
• Approved paying the invoice from the Ely Area Ambulance Joint Powers Board for $38,138 for the second half of the 2024 operating subsidy and 2025 ambulance building expenses.
• Approved the purchase of a Ford 4x4 F550 truck chassis for $55,942 plus tax and license, from low-bidder Lundgren Ford in Eveleth. The truck chassis will be for a dump track to replace the 2008 Ford F550 currently at the end of its service life. Only one other dealership, Chrysler of Forest City, Iowa, submitted bids, for both Ford and Dodge chassis. The vote was 6-1 with city council member Al Forsman voting nay.
• Approved a recreational ATV trail license agreement with Thomas and Jennifer Nemanich of Eveleth for $1,100/year. The trail license is for a connector to the Taconite Trail.
• Did not approve a first reading of an amendment to Ely City Code, Chapter 6.36 on second-hand goods dealers. The council expressed concern that the word in the ordinance “excepting” should be “accepting,” which would change the meaning of the law. The city council voted to send the wording back to the planning and zoning commission for clarification.
• Approved making direct paycheck deposit mandatory for all city employees and elected officials.