Breaking News

POSITION OPENING
Ely Public Schools
Foreign Language Teacher
1.0 Full Time Equivalent (FTE)

Ely Memorial School is looking for a
Foreign Language Teacher beginning the
2020-2021 school year; competitive salary
and fringes as per the master agreement.
Background check required.

Qualifications include:
• Current Minnesota teaching license with German background preferred
• Previous teaching experience preferred
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Application available at: www.ely.k12.mn.us

A complete application must include the following:
• District Licensed Application
• Resume
• Copy of official transcripts
• Current Minnesota teaching license
• 3 letters of recommendation

POSITION OPENING
Ely Public Schools
Noon Supervisor

Ely Public Schools is looking for a Noon Supervisor to supervise students at lunch and recess times for 172 student contact days.
A background check is required.

Qualifications include:
• Preferred experience working with school age children
• Evidence of ability to work cooperatively and communicate effectively in a collaborative setting

Application available at: www.ely.k12.mn.us

A complete application must include the following:
• District Application
• 2 letters of recommendation

Return materials to: Ely Public Schools, Attn: Superintendent, 600 E. Harvey St., Ely, MN 55731 or email mwognum@ely.k12.mn.us

Starting Rate of Pay: $10.58/hour

Hours: Up to 6 hours/day

Application review to begin: September 2, 2020; open until filled.

POSITION OPENING
Ely Public Schools
Paraprofessional

Ely Public Schools is looking for a Paraprofessional beginning the 2020-2021 school year; background check required.

Qualifications include:
• AA Degree or two years of college required
• Preferred experience working with school age children
• Evidence of ability to work cooperatively and communicate effectively in a collaborative setting.

Application available at: www.ely.k12.mn.us

A complete application must include the following:
• District Application
• Resume’
• College Transcripts
• 2 letters of recommendation

Return materials to: Ely Public Schools, Attn: Superintendent, 600 E. Harvey St., Ely, MN 55731 or email mwognum@ely.k12.mn.us

Starting Rate of Pay: $16.57/hour

Hours: 6.5 hours/day

Council Minutes - August 04, 2020
Regular Meeting Ely City Council – City Hall, Council Chambers

1. CALL TO ORDER
The regular city council meeting was called to order by Mayor Novak at 5:30pm.

2. PRESENT: Council members A.Forsman, Kess, Debeltz, Omerza, Callen, Campbell, and Mayor Novak
ABSENT: None

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Debeltz/Campbell moved to approve the minutes from the July 21, 2020 Regular Council Meeting. Motion Carried Unanimously.

Floyd “Butch” Farkas
11/5/1943 - 8/3/2020
Chicago Heights, Illinois (formerly of Ely, MN)

by Tom Coombe
Ely no longer has a contested race for mayor.
Eric Urbas, a first-time candidate who hoped to unseat incumbent Chuck Novak, said Thursday that he’s withdrawing from consideration.
He cited health reasons in ending a candidacy he launched a little more than two months ago.
“I don’t want to take something on that I don’t know that I will be able to do,” said Urbas.
The decision leaves Novak as the only candidate in the race for mayor, which is elected every two years.
Novak is seeking a fourth term in his second stint as mayor. He also won the mayoral seat in 2006 but lost a re-election bid two-years later.
The race had already attracted considerable attention in town, with Urbas attracting prominent support and many backers wearing T-shirts touting his candidacy at the community’s July 4 patriotic march/parade.

History notes collected by
Paul Schurke, Aug 2020
The 75-mile long Kawishiwi River (Ojibwe name meaning “place of many beaver homes”) tumbles out of the BWCAW & widens to create the five lake chain: Birch-White Iron-Farm-South Farm-Garden. It heads back into the wilderness at Fall Lake to merge with other rivers and reach the Arctic Ocean at Hudson Bay 1,200 miles later.
• The chain of lakes are among 2,000 lakes within 50 miles of Ely. White Iron ranks among Minnesota’s 25 select “Sentinel Lakes” monitored for aquatic health by the DNR and the White Iron Chain of Lakes Association (WICOLA).
• The 35-mile-long lake chain flowage was a rich hunting, fishing and gathering grounds for early residents and today supports over resorts, outfitters, camps, campgrounds, including White Iron Beach, the area’s first resort in 1916.
• At Birch Lake’s River Point Resort & Outfitting, archaeologists in 1982 found a 2,000 year-old Laurel Culture village.

In the end it really wasn’t that close. Voters in the Ely school district tallied two to one in favor of a $10 million school bond referendum.
The positive vote last week allows the district to start on a $20 million project that will change the look and feel of the school campus. But there were times when the project appeared doomed.
There was a change of superintendents during the planning process and a massive change in what the project was to include. Throw in a pandemic that only allowed for one meeting where the public could ask questions face to face and you have a project that made it through despite the obstacles.

A cold day at the plate and a few defensive breakdowns brought Ely’s Senior Babe Ruth (Legion) baseball season to an abrupt halt.
After losing just twice in 20 contests, Ely fell twice in a matter of hours Saturday at Aurora, during the Eighth District Division II Final Four.
Esko scored nine runs in the last three innings to prevail 10-1 in a winners’ bracket tilt, while Eveleth scored six runs in the top of the sixth to rally for a 7-3 victory in the elimination bracket.
Ely, which finished 18-4, scored only four runs on the day after exploding for 15 runs and 17 hits just two days earlier.
On defense, Ely committed six errors in a disastrous sixth inning against Eveleth.
“It was the wrong time to have a bad day,” said Ely Head Coach Tom Coombe. “We had played so well, but things just snowballed on Saturday. It was one thing after another.”
Ely couldn’t solve Esko ace Noah Furcht in the opener.

Minnesota’s ruffed grouse spring population counts are similar to last year and likely are following the 10-year cycle of rise and fall—a predictable pattern recorded for 71 years.
Due to COVID-related restrictions, this past spring’s drumming counts in southeastern Minnesota were not conducted as planned. As the DNR was able to resume more field operations in May, there was still time to conduct drumming counts in more northerly portions of the state, where the peak in drumming activity occurs later.
While spring drumming counts that were conducted produced similar results as last year, only having counts from the northern region—which has more forest and holds more grouse—likely means the statewide index is higher than it would be if the southeastern region was included.