ELY— Supporters of the Ely Senior Center filled every seat at the city council meeting here on Tuesday as they pressed the council for some financial help to address the nonprofit’s facility, which is badly in need of repairs.
Despite a recently completed $120,000 renovation, repairs are still needed to address a leaky roof, the heating system needs replacement at a cost of $20,000, and new bathrooms are needed as well.
Senior Center members, intent on making their point, handed out homemade badges saying “I (heart) senior citizens,” which most members of the city council and attendees wore during the meeting. The organization’s revenues rely on renting its building as a community space and on direct fundraising. It costs approximately $2,000 a month to operate the facility.
Linda Maki, the treasurer of the senior center, made a request for $24,000. She described the recent renovation, which included needed replacements and repairs to the center’s “kitchen, windows, doors, lighting, and ceiling.” She listed all the work that still needs to be done to the center’s building, which is in what used to be Rothman’s Garage. She also listed 16 different groups and organizations that lease space at the center for community events, since the building also functions as a community center space for most of the Ely area.
She noted that “the Ely Senior Center has been self-sufficient, serving the needs of the area’s seniors and the entire community for nearly 40 years.”
Maki was followed by senior center supporter Gerald Tyler, who noted that the Ely Senior Center didn’t get any support for operating costs from organizations like the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board and the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity. “Only Ely can fund the $24,000 the Ely Senior Center needs,” noting that many cities and counties fund senior centers or devote significant support to nonprofits delivering similar services.
The funding request is greater than the $7,500 for the center that appeared on the Sept. 5 agenda, which the budget committee had recommended for approval. After listening to the two senior center supporters, council member Al Forsman, who is the council’s liaison with the budget committee, moved that the council pass the $7,500 contribution from Ely “as a placeholder,” which was passed unanimously. The council then resolved to discuss possible projects for the center at the upcoming projects committee meeting on this upcoming Monday. The council also placed the subject of how much the city can afford to contribute onto the agenda of the next budget meeting.
Forsman remarked that the senior center is used by more than just City of Ely residents and that the other local governments in the area should also support it better, noting that Morse Township only contributed $400 last year.
The discussion at the next budget committee meeting is timely, given that city department heads are currently making their budget requests for next year, in preparation for the city council to set next year’s maximum levy amount before the end of the month.
“We’re close to setting the maximum levy,” said Ely clerk-treasurer Harold Langowski, “and then we argue on how to spend that until December,” referring to how Ely’s budget process works.
“We won’t leave you in the lurch,” Ely Mayor Heidi Omerza told the Ely Senior Center supporters.
Ely Area Ambulance
The council denied paying a $48,616.35 invoice from the Ely Area Ambulance Joint Powers Board (JPB) for the operating subsidy for the Ely Area Ambulance Service for further 2023 expenses. The council resolved to keep the support at the $34,300 approved at their previous meeting. The invoice was based on a per-capita operating subsidy of $15.15.
Forsman, who is the Ely representative on the JPB, remarked that Ely offered earlier this summer to fund the full $48,616 “if the other two townships would also do so, but they declined, so I recommend that we stay with what we decided last meeting.”
In describing some of the backstory about the 2023 subsidy requests from the ambulance service, Forsman explained that the JPB requested multiple times during 2023 for “information on what we would be funding (i.e., the 2023 budget), and we received nothing.”
In other action on Tuesday, the council:
• Resolved to hold a joint study session meeting with the Planning and Zoning Commission on Sept. 26 to discuss the updated permissible and conditional uses list.
• Approved the purchase of a radar sign from Radarsign for $4,415 using the Public Safety Aid funds from Minnesota.
• Approved an additional $9,000 in the 2024 budget for the Ely Area Ambulance Joint Powers Board, for ambulance building expenses.
• Approved a budget committee recommendation to receipt police abandoned property profits to the equipment replacement fund.
• Approved putting the wastewater treatment plant’s 200-kilowatt generator up for bids.
• Approved purchasing the 2016 Ford Explorer from the Ely Area Ambulance Service for $15,500.
• Approved soliciting bids on a new pickup truck for the Electric Department.
• Heard a report from the budget committee that future meetings will be at 4 p.m. instead of 4:30 p.m. on the 3rd Monday of the month.
• Approved the purchase of a new line tracer for the Electric Department for $4,790.
• Approved the substantial completion status of the wastewater treatment facility project as well as related change orders No. 19 for $1,897 and No. 20 for $11,557.
• Approved paying Butch Gornik $450 for consulting services.
• Approved a lighting rebate to Circle K for $1,364 and residential AC/Heat rebates for $400 to Roy Anderson and $400 to Derek Jenson.
• Approved the formation of a negotiating committee for the “Supervisors of Other than Essential Workers” contract that starts on January 1, 2024. City Council members Angela Campbell and Jerome Debeltz, and Mayor Heidi Omerza will be on the committee with council member Ryan Callen as the designated back-up.
• Voted to accept the donation of a dock from Nan and Gerald Snyder to be used at the North end of Miner’s Lake. The council also resolved to send the Synders a thank you letter.
• Approved a note and mortgage for the residential rehab loan for Josh Brang and Sarah Murn at 931 E. Harvey St. for $10,000 for a new propane boiler.
• Approved claims for payment of $197,325 by the city and Ely Utilities Commission, $4,018 for League of Minnesota Membership dues, $30 for a Minnesota Mayors Association Membership for 2023-24, and $6,153 for Coalition of Greater MN Cities 2024 membership dues.
• Denied spending $1,644 for a Minnesota Association of Small Cities 2023-2024 membership. In the discussion, Langowski noted that “our interests and theirs don’t always overlap,” but that, “we may want consider this for future budgets.”
• Approved a resolution “authorizing to execute Minnesota Department of Transportation grant agreement for airport improvements excluding land acquisition.”
• Approved an in-kind request from the Ely Chamber of Commerce for the Harvest Moon Festival.
• Approved the renewal of Stinky Pete’s Edible Cannabinoid Dealer License for 2023-24, pending proper paperwork, insurance, fees and a valid certificate of occupancy.
• Voted to update the City Code (§5.01.8 ) on exclusive liquor stores to coincide with state law (Minn. §340A.412, subd. 14). The liquor store section on Minnesota’s law site does not yet reflect the new 2023 legislation allowing liquor stores to sell cannabinoid edibles.
• Heard the report from Fire Chief David Marshall that the old ladder truck will be going out on bids this week.