News

by Tom Coombe
Ely’s under-the-radar mayoral race comes to a head on Tuesday.
That’s when city voters may go to the polls and take part in a special primary election for mayor.
Six candidates are on the ballot, and the top two vote-getters will advance to an Aug. 10 general election.
But just how many Ely residents will take part in the election?
That’s the looming question this week in a contest that has been unusually quiet.
Public campaigning, other than a smattering of lawn signs, has been non-existent.
Five of the six contenders took part in a forum, but the event was closed to the public because of the COVID-19 pandemic but was streamed on the internet and recorded for later viewing on YouTube.
While nearly 2,000 people voted in last fall’s general election, when Eric Urbas unseated Chuck Novak despite dropping out of the race, it seems likely that far fewer people will vote in the primary.

by Tom Coombe
The Ely schools will welcome students back to the campus for in-person learning, starting Monday.
School officials confirmed that a “reset,” prompted by a surge in COVID-19 cases among students, will come to an end and children in all grades may return to the Washington and Memorial buildings.
After reporting 28 cases within the school community from March 15-March 31, the district had no active cases as of Wednesday, according to superintendent Erik Erie.
“We’re at zero positive cases as of today,” said Erie.
That was one of several factors that prompted school administrators, after a consultation with county public health officials, to bring students back to the campus as planned. School activities, which have been halted during the reset and resulted in the forfeiture of a playoff basketball game, will also resume.

by Nick Wognum
Some Ely water customers have noticed a change in the taste and smell of the water coming out of their taps.
“It’s not the Burntside water I’m used to,” said Patricia Nettifee, who lives on the east end of town. “My dad lives over on Camp Street and it’s not as bad there. At my house it just tastes and smell funky.”
The cause may be from a cold snap. Ely operations director Harold Langowski said there aren’t any health concerns and nothing has changed with the city’s water supply or how it is treated.
“We’ve gotten a few calls in isolated areas. It’s asthetic in nature, it’s not a water quality or health concern,” said Langowski.
The city pumps water out of Burntside Lake through an above and below ground pipe system to the water treatment plant on Shagawa Lake.

by Tom Coombe
Distance learning for all students in the Ely school system will continue for at least another week.
Although a COVID-19 outbreak within the school slowed considerably this week, Ely district officials announced Wednesday that a COVID-related “reset” in the Memorial Building will be extended until April 12.
That’s the date that Washington Elementary students would also return to school under current plans.
Students in grades 6-12, who have been out of school since March 19, were originally scheduled to return to school April 6 but school administrators decided to instead “extend our reset for one more week,” principal Megan Anderson said in a message sent to parents.
“Current data indicates that we still have high numbers in our community,” said Anderson. “It is with every intention that we plan to return to in-person learning on April 12th.”

Dry and windy conditions contributed to a fire that spread to a garage and burned two vehicles.
“The shed started on fire and the wind pushed it into the garage,” said Morse-Fall Lake Fire Department chief Ted Krueger. “It was a really windy day.”
The fire occurred around 1 p.m. Sunday at a home on the 1800 block of Grant McMahan Boulevard off Shagawa Lake on Hwy. 88.
Damages include the total loss of a shed, garage and two vehicles.
“The fire was headed toward the house, it was in jeopardy but the initial attack from our crew knocked the fire down,” said Krueger.
Also responding were the Ely Fire Department, Ely Area Ambulance Service and the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department.
“Ely Fire established a water supply on Shagawa Lake and delivered it to the site to Morse’s pumper tanker,” said Krueger.
The cause of fire is under investigation.

by Tom Coombe
Middle and high school students in Ely transitioned to distance learning this week, and now elementary students are following suit.
A two-week “reset” was implemented in the Memorial Building, where nearly nine of 10 students were in quarantine at one point during the week because of COVID-19 outbreak that included 20 cases within the building.
In a surprising move, the Ely School District announced Wednesday that Washington Elementary would also close to in-person learning until Apr. 12, although only three cases were reported in the building and none since Monday.
The moves come amid a sudden outbreak that began the week of Mar. 15 and snowballed within days, prompting the school district to switch learning models for students in grades 6-12, effective Mar. 19.
By Monday, 87 percent of the high school students were asked to quarantine because of exposure to a COVID-19 positive individual, according to superintendent Erik Erie.

A significant increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ely has St. Louis County Public Health offering reminders to people about the importance of testing and quarantining to prevent further community transmission.
In the last week, there have been 33 confirmed cases in Ely, which is 15% of the total cases for the entire county. Some of the cases appear to be travel related, while others are linked to social gatherings.
Anyone identified as a close contact of a confirmed case - meaning they've been within six feet for 15 minutes or longer - should quarantine for 14 days whether symptomatic or not. The exception is anyone who is fully vaccinated (meaning they are two weeks past receiving their second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine) does not need to quarantine unless they show signs or symptoms of COVID-19.

by Tom Coombe
After being shuttered for more than a year, Ely’s public library could soon reopen to the public.
Council members indicated Tuesday that they would lift an emergency order that closed the building, amid suggestions that the facility could welcome patrons within several weeks.
But details, including a date for reopening and procedures and protocols, figure to be worked out by the city’s library board.
“We’re getting ready to get ready to get ready,” said council member Heidi Omerza, also a longtime library board member. “We’re going to do it slowly and smartly.”
Since mid-March of 2020, the library was closed to the public because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The library has offered curbside service for much of the time period and has maintained a strong social media presence, but visitors have not been allowed inside to peruse books, read newspapers, attend programming or use the facility’s computers.

It’s back to distance learning for students at Ely’s Memorial building following a rise in the number of positive Covid tests.
Superintendent Erik Erie confirmed the change on Thursday afternoon.
“The students in the Memorial building will be moving to distance learning starting tomorrow,” said Erie. “They will return on April 6.”
This affects only students in the Memorial building.
“Washington Elementary will be in person as they are now,” said Erie.
He said the change follows more students testing positive for coronavirus.
“The reason is the case count has risen dramatically even in the last day. It went from three at the end of the day yesterday, it had been one, it’s gone up to eight today and we expect possibly some more.
“And the number of groups already in quarantine because of the cases probably necessitates this move.
Erie said the decision was made after discussions with St. Louis County Public Health.

by Tom Coombe
The next steps in Ely’s nearly $20 million school improvement project have come with a shocking development for school officials, staff and students: the Industrial Arts Building must be vacant by April 1.
Earlier talk of a mid-May timeline was upended by a bombshell, which superintendent Erik Erie described as a “shocker to all of us,” that became public at Monday’s school board meeting.
The shocker has created a mad scramble of sorts as school officials look to move industrial arts and music classes to a new location on campus, with Happy Days Preschool in search of a new home as well.
School board chairman Ray Marsnik voiced concerns about the impact on the district’s industrial arts classes while a former board member - James Pointer - went before his former colleagues Monday and argued without success that the district take a different approach.