Mayor Heidi Omerza and city council members made a sudden shift this week, replacing former member Paul Kess as the city’s representative on the Ely Area Lodging Tax Board.
Last month, the council rebuffed requests to replace Kess and as recently as two weeks ago, Omerza had recommended that he be reappointed to the position.
But Omerza changed directions Tuesday, as a list of committee appointments identified John Lahtonen as the lodging tax board designee, and the council voted unanimously and without public discussion to approve the mayor’s recommendation.
T he move seemed to surprise several people who came to speak before the council Tuesday to address lodging tax issues.
At several previous meetings, the council has come under fire from those who pressed for the council to dismiss Kess, who last fall went against the council’s recommendation and voted to fund just two-thirds of the request submitted by VisitEly, also known as the Ely Tourism Bureau.
Since that vote, Kess has come under fire from VisitEly supporters, and the council has been pressured to make a change.
Kess was not present at the council session, although Omerza read a statement he submitted, in which he said “ Even though it was tumultuous at times and likely will continue that way, in my mind it is important to support a balanced approach to the spending of tax money.”
And while the change was welcomed by some who spoke to the council Tuesday, it’s unclear if it will result in a change in course for the board, which is set to provide $210,000 of the $315,000 requested by VisitEly in 2026.
During the initial unsuccessful bid to oust Kess, Lahtonen spoke in support of the former council member’s work on the board.
Kess had pressed for what he termed “a more balanced approach” in the distribution of lodging tax dollars, and supported efforts to funnel money to the city of Ely for operational costs at the new trailhead facility, and to the Ely Chamber of Commerce to help staff the new building.
The ongoing divide was also acknowledged by two people who spoke to the council, both with ties to VisitEly.
Cindy Smyka, the former executive director of the tourism bureau, said “what is happening now is a delay, waste of resources, inevitably lost opportunities and missed visitorship.”
“Ely is at an impasse there is just no two ways about it,” said Smyka. “We have different attorneys with differentiating interpretations of the law (related to lodging tax spending).”
Smyka also urged the council to “remember our visitorship first and foremost. Look at our town through their eyes.”
She also called for “a neutral third party to conduct broad listening,” identifying a facilitator and planning a community webinar for Feb. 25, at 1:30 p.m., open to all to participate.
Abby Dare, VisitEly’s current executive director, also acknowledged the months-long tension in her address.
Dare said she first wanted to speak about VisitEly’s 2026 budget but said “I just continue to find these conversations are feeling very impossible with such a divisive civic culture around this conversation right now.”
“I’m here because I care deeply about Ely,” she said. “I feel exhausted, I feel disheartened and at times I felt totally discouraged about continuing to engage at this level. Across my work, I have encountered a pattern of resistance. Resistance to planning, resistance to longterm thinking, resistance to shared vision building.”
Dare added that she “sometimes thinks of Ely as two groups of people who are unintentionally pitted against each other.”
“Questions like are you pro or against mining, are you for Boundary Waters conservation or not, do you ski or do you snowmobile, were you born here or were you not?” said Dare. “At this point we’ve begun to fracture trust and stall collaboration.” Earlier, speakers including Anna Heil thanked the council for putting an elected official on the lodging tax board, which also includes representation from Fall Lake and Morse townships and St. Louis County.
“I just want to say that I appreciate that there will be council representation on the lodging tax board and thank you to listening to the citizens of Ely,” said Heil.
The council decision was also met with some pushback, with both Ely business owner Dafne Caruso and Ely Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Eva Sebesta writing letters to the council asking that Kess continue to serve.
Caruso wrote, “I believe Paul Kess is perceived as an obstacle, as the enemy for asking the hard questions, for demanding answers to questions that must be answered, and for upsetting the status quo. At this point in the game it is imperative that you all as council members act in accordance to what is best for the city of Ely and not what is best for the Tourism Bureau.”
Sebesta said Kess “is unafraid to ask the questions to ensure that lodging tax dollars are appropriately used. His continued vigilance has allowed for a more balanced approach in fund use.”
