Council bats eight in two-hour meeting
What appeared to be a killer agenda was managed in just under two hours by the Ely city council last Tuesday.There were eight requests to appear and slew of other items to consider as six men took their seats. Mike Hillman was absent. The first request came from Robin Mathews, the chair of the Planning Commission, who was going to ask to have Hillman replaced as a council representative due to missing so many meetings. But before Mathews could begin, Mayor Frank Salerno cut him off at the pass, asking if the commission had officially acted on the request.Mathews said that a motion had not been approved by the board. “The recommendation needs to go from P&Z and be forwarded to us for consideration,” said Salerno.“We can do that,” said Mathews. “So if P&Z were to vote and be in favor of removing Mr. Hillman you would consider it?”“Yes,” said Salerno.After listening to a proposal from St. Louis County and the Cemetery Committee (see separate stories), the council took no official action on appointing two members to a search committee for a new executive director for the Ely Area Development Association.The council did approve having city clerk-treasurer John Tourville work with the North American Bear Center on acquiring property to build a facility.A request from Greg Mangold to have the city rescind clean-up fees assessed to a residential property where there had been a fire was tabled until the issue can be discussed with the city attorney.A request for a small plot of land for a community garden was approved.Morse Township supervisor Jack Willis asked to meet with city officials to look at ways to combine the city and township fire department equipment and personnel. Council member Butch Pecha said he would meet with Willis along with a representative from the Ely fire department.With the requests to appear out of the way, the council took action on getting out of an agreement with developer/building Lee Aultman to provide housing in Spaulding.A grant application for funding for the project was ranked second in points by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency but received no funding.“There was no funding for projects from MHFA for anything north of the Twin Cities,” said clerk-treasurer John Tourville. “It’s really alarming.”With that news, the council voted to rescind the agreement that had been in place with Aultman and place the lots up for sale to the public.Voted to pay Cheryl Anderson $22.44 per hour, an increase of $5.07 per hour, to take on retired fire chief Gary Klun’s responsibilities. Klun was being paid $23.71 per hour and in negotiations with the union, the city agreed to pay Anderson an increase equal to 80 percent of the difference. In other business the council:• Did not approve requests from the All Class Reunion Committee to close Sheridan Street for an hour for a snakedance and to have a bonfire near Miners Lake. City officials will meet with the committee to clear up concerns that were raised.• Approved purchasing a low boy trailer for $7,500 with the Ely Utilities Commission paying for half. The council also accepted the donation of a tractor from St. Louis County that could be used to pull the trailer.• Took no action on alleged violations against a number of licensed liquor sales businesses.
