The Ely Area Lodging Tax Board was bogged down both with procedural issues and uncertainty about its future during another divisive session.
While previously-authorized payments to the city of Ely and the Ely Chamber of Commerce were approved during the July 27 session, Fall Lake’s representative on the board continued to press for changes in the group’s makeup and operation - and threatened that the township might soon leave the existing alliance with the city of Ely, Morse Township and St. Louis County.
Cindy Smyka, who was appointed to the board by Fall Lake earlier this year, contends it’s “a 99 percent certainty” that Fall Lake would leave the joint powers - and take the roughly $120,000 in tax revenues it generates a year with them.
That comes out to about one third of the group’s annual budget, and would seemingly put a big dent in the lodging tax allocations - that now go largely to VisitEly with smaller portions to the city and Chamber to help support the operation of the new trailhead building.
In an interview after the joint powers board meeting, Lake County Commissioner Joe Baltich said the county could decide to pull its revenues and instead divert them to Lake County’s marketing arm - Lovin’ Lake County - he added that the county would only do so at the request of the Fall Lake board.
It remains unclear if that will occur, given reservations expressed at a three-hour Fall Lake board meeting Wednesday night (see related story).
Those developments came after another contentious joint powers board session, where Smyka reiterated concerns related to process and board leadership and said “this organization needs to face the music. The Ely Area Lodging Tax Board needs some turnover.”
Smyka suggested that the entire board resign in favor of new leadership and that the board be expanded as well.
She charged that “shortsighted decisions have taken a dramatic toll on our community, the effects of which will be long-lasting.”
St. Louis County Commissioner Paul McDonald, who represents the county on the lodging tax joint powers board, downplayed the potential threat from Lake County and cited his own discussions with Lake County commissioners.
“I did ask the as a member of this committee to give us until the end of the year to get this turmoil straightened out and get us in a positive direction.”
For at least a year, the joint powers board meetings have been dominated by division over how funds from the area’s three percent lodging tax are distributed.
For 2026, the board veered away from previous practice of distributing nearly all of the money to VisitEly, also known as the Ely Tourism Bureau, and instead approved allocations both to the City of Ely and Ely Chamber of Commerce for trailhead building utilities, maintenance and staffing.
The debate and ultimate decision led to significant pushback from VisitEly and at times spilled over to Ely council meetings.
VisitEly initially received two-thirds of its allocation, prompting the group to trim its budget, although full funding was ultimately approved.
But the discourse has continued, with Smyka pushing for change on the lodging tax board and accusing chairperson Terry Soderberg of poor leadership.
She has publicly called for Soderberg to resign, but the push has failed to take hold on the board, which also includes Ely’s John Lahtonen and McDonald.
Smyka said the board purposely avoided holding meetings, and noted that funding decisions were made with majority votes, rather than the unanimous decision required by board bylaws.
“There’s nothing more important than to address the issue at hand, the organizational structure and leadership that allowed it to happen and in fact facilitated it’s happening,” said Smyka.
The board corrected the funding decisions last week with a series of unanimous votes, and Smyka said she supported bylaw changes to allow for majority rule because “you do not want to have a unanimous clause that can be weaponized.”
Smyka said Ely’s tourism industry has been harmed by the strife - a charge echoed by VisitEly’s marketing director, Whitney Woods.
“I am not from here (but) I am devastated by what I have witnessed in the last yearand- a-half,” said Woods. “Please stop fighting.”
Smyka suggested the city of Ely no longer request for $20,000 of lodging tax funds for utilities and maintenance of the trailhead building. That request ruffled feathers among those who contend the funds should only be used for advertising and marketing.
“That’s a city council decision,” countered Lahtonen.
Smyka said the board has suffered from a lack of tourism industry expertise and said it needs members with backgrounds in tourism.
“There has been misguided leadership, left and right,” said Smyka.
