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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Mayor lauds local achievements in “State of the City”

Catie Clark
Posted 1/23/25

ELY- Calling Ely a “small town that does big things,” Mayor Heidi Omerza enthusiastically explained why 2024 was a year filled with proof of that in the city’s first ever …

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Mayor lauds local achievements in “State of the City”

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ELY- Calling Ely a “small town that does big things,” Mayor Heidi Omerza enthusiastically explained why 2024 was a year filled with proof of that in the city’s first ever “State of the City” address on Thursday. Jan. 9 at City Hall.
With her characteristic signature humor and panache, Omerza regaled the small crowd for a half hour, outlining a long list of things that make Ely special.
“We do a lot for our size,” she said as she ran through a list of community-oriented activities that happened here last year, including:
• Two films shot footage in Ely, “Boundary Waters,” which will be shown at the Ely Film Festival in March, and “Bigfoot Woods.”
• Ely’s many festivals. “I was going to try to name them all,” Omerza said, “but I didn’t want to forget one — and I would. I would probably miss half of them.” She did mention the Dark Sky Festival, the Ely Winter Festival, and the WolfTrack Classic Dog Sled Race.
“That’s three events already, and that’s just through mid-February. How many communities of 3,400 do that much?”
• “Disney’s Frozen, The Musical” at Ely Memorial High School.
• The 100-year anniversary of Ely Memorial High School and the All-Class Reunion.
• The new statue of “The Voyageurs” in Whiteside Park, donated by William and Holly Rom.
Omerza lauded Ely’s many volunteers, who she said are the driving force behind Ely’s many events and Ely’s city government. She identified several people in the audience who were already volunteers. She also pointed out that most of the city council got their start in local government by getting involved by volunteering.
“I love the fact that most of what we do is run by volunteers,” Omerza said. “We have a lot of volunteers in Ely, but there’s always room for more, especially for our boards, committees, and commissions.”
City projects
Omerza described how the city’s projects are an important part of what makes Ely a desirable place to live or visit. She also explained that seeing most projects through to completion takes years of work, including the pursuit of funding and grants.
Omerza commented that the city’s staff was persistent in hunting down project funds, “so that net impact on you, the taxpayer, is as little as it can be, because we know the community we live in, and we want to make sure that the people who live here can stay here and are not priced out of anything.”
Omerza’s list of project highlights that saw significant progress last year, many of which will come to fruition in 2025, included:
• The sale and redevelopment of the former Ely Community Center building into a downtown boutique hotel, funded by private investment.
• New market-rate, city-owned apartments. Minnesota did not fund the city’s application for state housing money in 2024; however, Ely intends to apply again in the next funding round. The current project to build new apartments began in 2020. Omerza used this as an example of how Ely is persistent in pursuing projects in the long term.
• The Trailhead Building, which is currently under construction on the west side of the city. Omerza commented that all the funding came from sources outside of the city.
• A “Type 3” high-speed charging station for electric vehicles that can fully recharge in a half hour. This project is currently up for funding from state and federal sources and will be installed at the new Trailhead Building. The nearest high-speed charging stations are in Silver Bay and Eveleth. “We need this for people who live here and for those who come to visit for the ATV trails that are part of the future of tourism in our community,” Omerza said.
• The ongoing improvements and expansion of ATV, snowmobile, and mountain biking trails.
• Replacement of underground utilities under Harvey Street, which will piggyback with repaving the street by St. Louis County. Construction will start this spring.
• The replacement of Ely’s five-mile-long water supply pipeline from Burntside Lake, whose superstructure is over a century old. Half the funding is already secured for this $4.5 million project, and the city is currently pursuing a direct federal allocation for the rest through Minnesota’s Congressional delegation.
• The Miners Memorial at the Pioneer Mine, which is projected for completion in August.
• Fire Hall No. 2 and the garage for the Ely Area Ambulance Service. These projects are currently in the design phase.
• The redevelopment of the Ely Railroad Depot. Ely is acting as the fiscal agent for pursuing state DEED and IRRR grants for the brownfield clean-up of the site. Most of the project is funded through private investment.
The “F-word”
Omerza praised the efforts of Ely’s city council, remarking that unlike most of the years she’s been involved, when the city council has been mostly retired people, the current council has more working people than retirees.
“So, we’re busy, we’re engaged, and we’re hard-working, and we’re out in public.”
Omerza then called upon her sense of humor as she talked more about city funding.
“I could only think of so many appropriate F-words,” Omerza joked. “Just so you are aware, F is for funding.
“Some of our budget comes from property taxes, but Ely gets much of its funding from St. Paul as local government aid. We call it LGA — 64 percent of our revenue is LGA.”
Omerza explained that the LGA formula is so complicated “that maybe three people at the state capitol could explain it.”
Ely does well in the LGA calculations, Omerza explained, because of its older population, its older housing stock, its profile as a lower-income community, and because so many people come here to visit.
Another factor in bringing state dollars to Ely is the city’s willingness to lobby for funding in St. Paul.
“I testified at two hearings last session, and we got funding from both of them,” Omerza said, referring to the city’s efforts to secure the one-time aid of $290,000 for the Ely Area Ambulance Service and money to help the International Wolf Center replace its problematic roof and HVAC.
The mayor wrapped up by stating, “We need to make sure that we have more housing, that we have more jobs and better jobs, and that we have more students to fill up our schools, to ensure we have a college and a hospital, and to ensure all of our businesses stay open. That’s what we need — and will continue to need — to ensure that Ely continues to be Ely.”
The talk was sponsored by the Ely chapter of the American Association of University Women and the Ely Rotary.