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Keith Vandervort
ELY - A sparse agenda for the city council here this week found council members in the middle of a dispute between neighbors over lawn mowing. One neighbor wants to mow the lawn on portions of city property surrounding his property on Sibley Drive. The other neighbor doesn’t want him to.
Apparently, Andy Hill, of 2111 Sibley Drive, has been doing the extra lawn mowing outside his property limits for the past two summers, but the Ely City Police were recently notified of the random act of beautification and Hill was told by the local lawn mowing police that he would have to get permission from city leaders to continue the kindness activity.
Keith Vandervort
ELY – With numerous questions and feedback in hand, and a recent plea for major adjustments, ISD 696 school board members gathered at a study session Monday night to ponder their next moves for a $20 million building project that is more than $4 million over budget.
Following a special study session with district principals and a building facilities committee meeting last week, board members met with the project architect and construction managers to work through the mounting challenges of providing a modern educational facility for the Ely community.
More than $12 million in construction bids, mainly for the campus’s new building, were approved earlier this spring. A second bid package, primarily for the renovation and modernization of the district’s existing Memorial and Washington buildings, was budgeted at about $4 million but came in at $8 million. The bids of the second construction package were rejected last month and officials hope to rebid that proj
Keith Vandervort
ELY – Following a nearly one-month closure, the Ely Drop and Shop secondhand retail shop is taking steps to have their business license reinstated and could soon reopen.
The downtown business at 204 E. Sheridan St. was shut down Feb. 11 by the Ely City Council, which pulled the operation’s business license. The closure was triggered by criminal charges against one of the business’s owners for allegedly selling methamphetamines on the premises.
Council members voted 6-0 Tuesday night to conditionally reinstate the business license. One council member was absent from the meeting.
The resolution stipulates that all current owners must sign the license, and they are all subject to an acceptable background check. The current owners of the business are Kristen Krings, Casey Moravitz, Rosario Thole and Tina Foster.
Keith Vandervort
ELY – Chuck Novak returned to the Ely mayor’s seat Jan. 5 after accepting the city council’s 5-1 vote to appoint him as the interim mayor.
Novak was defeated in the general election last fall by Eric Urbas, although Urbas had pulled out of the race last summer due to health concerns. His name remained on the Nov. 3 ballot, and Urbas was elected mayor by a 925-800 margin. Urbas declined to accept the will of Ely voters, setting up a potential temporary vacuum of leadership.
In their first meeting of the new year on Jan. 5, under the leadership of Acting Mayor Jerome Debeltz, council members approved resolutions declaring a vacancy in the office of mayor, ordering a special election for the office, and appointing an interim mayor.
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