A moderated forum with Ely city council candidates immediately followed the back-and-forth between mayoral contenders Heidi Omerza and Emily Roose last week.
Incumbent council members Angela Campbell and Al Forsman sat at the forum table alongside hopefuls Lacey Squier, Mark Zupec and Abby Dare. Ely’s sixth council candidate, Josh Brang, did not attend.
Campbell and Forsman pointed back to years of experience on the council, eight years for Campbell and 12 for Forsman.
“The other candidates will tell you what they would do. I will tell you what I have already done, and what I will keep doing: showing up, reading the packet, taking the hard votes and being a good listener,” Campbell said.
Campbell highlighted her time on the Ely Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), which recently involved a collaboration with Habitat for Humanity to construct a new Ely residence.
Forsman serves on the utilities commission and outlined several of Ely’s energy-efficient efforts, including the recent placement of solar panels on the water treatment plant and LED lighting upgrades.
The other three candidates did not back down from promoting their own credentials.
Zupec serves on the HRA and is a former Ely council member. Squier found her footing as manager of Boundary Waters Connect and describes herself as a strong networker.
Dare said she has gained experience in local government through her work as executive director for the Ely Area Tourism Bureau, which brought her before township governments and Ely’s city council.
Dare additionally founded Sheridan Street gallery The Meadows and sat on Ely’s parks and recreation board for three years.
As in the mayoral forum, worker attraction and retention emerged as a trending theme for discussion.
Zupec suggested bringing local unions into Ely Memorial High School to showcase career opportunities.
“We could bring some really good trade jobs to hopefully stick around our community,” Zupec said.
Forsman said Ely must continue to prioritize a diverse economy, while Squier lauded capacity-building efforts in Happy Days Learning Center and suggested the city further develop its daycare offerings.
“Childcare is a business model and we know we need to do more to retain the people who work in the childcare industry and steel ourselves for doing this work in the long-term,” Squier said. “We want to keep growing and we want to keep adding children to our community.”
Campbell fielded a question on the city’s tax philosophy, responding that “the only reason to raise taxes is if we need our public services.”
Campbell said funding for other projects should flow in from external sources.
“Don’t put the burden on the taxpayer,” Campbell said.
Dare advocated for the local lodging tax, which is imposed upon visitors as a portion of short-term lodging costs.
“(The tax) funds our local tourism bureau, which helps market our area to convince people to come visit us,” Dare said. “When you convince people to come visit us, they might choose to live here, bring their business here or bring their family here.”
Zupec said the local economy could benefit from the construction of an RV park near the Ely Golf Course, where he identified a potential property on a trout stream.
Some candidates weighed in on the usage of city services by nearby township residents.
Squier referenced Ely’s 2023 housing study, which estimates approximately 10,000 people live in Ely’s primary market area, though just over 3,200 people reside within city limits.
“The city of Ely is often asked to function for 10,000 people based on the funding of fewer,” Squier said.
“This is a very sticky issue and a very tough issue to navigate,” Forsman said. “We’re surrounded completely by one township and there are many other townships that use our services.”
Forsman commended volunteers’ efforts to maintain many of Ely’s community programs. He advocated for the city to continue in this manner to save costs while still offering services to regional residents.
Toward the end of the forum, candidates jumped on an opportunity to share their visions for what Ely could look like in 10 years.
“I really hope in 10 years this community doesn’t feel as polarized,” Dare said. “I hope we can go through a healing process with each other and be more deeply in community with each other, cheering one another on.”
“We don’t have to agree. We just have to understand where we’re coming from,” Forsman said. “That’s what I try to bring to every meeting.”
Forsman envisions a city that will maintain a thriving community college, hospital, high school and workforce for the long-term.
Squier hopes that in 10 years, 10% of businesses and nonprofits will have grown by a full-time staff member, 20 new families will reside in Ely in newly-built or updated houses and high school enrollment numbers will have climbed.
“More people will know each other’s names, the names of their parents, their grandparents and their kids,” Squier said.
Ely’s school board candidates will take to the stage on Sept. 30 for the final forum moderated by the Ely Branch of AAUW Minnesota and the Ely Rotary Club.
