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Urbas unseats Novak for Ely mayor

Challenger had pulled out of race for health reasons

Keith Vandervort
Posted 11/4/20

ELY – Mayoral candidate Eric Urbas, who pulled out of the race last August against incumbent Chuck Novak, won the city of Ely’s top job Tuesday night. Urbas received 923 votes to …

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Urbas unseats Novak for Ely mayor

Challenger had pulled out of race for health reasons

Posted

ELY – Mayoral candidate Eric Urbas, who pulled out of the race last August against incumbent Chuck Novak, won the city of Ely’s top job Tuesday night. Urbas received 923 votes to Novak’s 799.
Citing continuing health concerns, Urbas withdrew from the contest in August, but he was too late to have his name omitted from the ballot.
Urbas has the option of accepting the results of the election and taking over as mayor in January, or he can deny the will of the voters, Ely Clerk-Treasurer Harold Langowski said. A special election would be held in February to fill the position, Langowski said.
Urbas did not return a telephone call from the Timberjay seeking comment..
Novak declined to comment Tuesday night.
An Ely native and 2007 graduate of Ely Memorial High School, Urbas continued his education at the University of Minnesota-Duluth where he earned a degree in businesses administration with an emphasis in finance. He is employed with R&R Transfer.
When he entered the race, Urbas said that he “wanted Ely to survive. I think a lot of people want to keep living in Ely and I think there are some opportunities to gain some incentives and pull some industries into town. There are more opportunities out there. I don’t want Ely to fizzle away.”
In announcing his withdrawal in August, Urbas said, “I am withdrawing from the Ely mayoral race due to health reasons,” citing a 15-year medical battle. “I am not going to dive into specifics. I just hope everyone can understand my reason. Thank you to everyone for all the support throughout this race. It is appreciated and humbling.”
When he pulled out, Urbas told the Timberjay that at the beginning of the summer he felt he could handle putting more on his plate.
“But, in the last month and a half I started going backward and I can’t take on a role that I don’t feel positive that I can do completely,” he said in August.
Novak was seeking a fourth term in his second time as mayor. He also won the mayoral seat in 2006 but lost a re-election bid two years later.
In the Ely School Board race, Tom Omerza won re-election with 2,220 votes. He will be joined on the board by newcomers Hollie Coombe, with 1,612 votes, and Darren Visser, with 1,605 votes. The fourth candidate, Rachel Brophy, received 1,024 votes. Two incumbents, Heidi Mann and James Pointer, did not seek re-election.
The vote tally for the uncontested incumbents for Ely City Council included Jerome Debeltz, 1,202, Ryan Callen, 1,171, and Paul Kess, 1,035.
In Winton, Scufsa, (70 votes) and Kathy Edman, (66 votes) beat out Lee Tessier (46 votes). Mayor Kathy Brandau ran unopposed.
Ely voters formed a long line outside of the Senior Center on Tuesday morning as they waited for polls to open at 7 a.m. A total of 1,165 in-person votes were tabulated on Tuesday. Officials counted 855 absentee ballots. There were 174 new voter registrations on election day.