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Engineer retained in wake of $5.25 million from state
An engineer with deep ties to Ely will help school officials move forward with a comprehensive assessment of district athletic facilities.
Jason Chopp of Short Elliot Hendrickson, Inc., was retained by school board members Monday to begin a review of the facilities and recommend potential improvements.
The decision comes after state lawmakers granted the district $5.25 million earlier this year.
A $250,000 allocation was set aside specifically for Veterans Memorial Field, the baseball park on the school campus, and another $5 million was awarded for the district to improve its athletic complex.
The assessment, which will begin yet this summer and will be completed as soon as September, will include a look at all of the district’s athletic facilities and include several potential options for improvement, cost estimates and recommendations, according to Chopp.
Chopp, the father of two children in the Ely district, said he has already met with the board’s facilities team and “I think we have a good handle on what you have.”
Next steps include on-site visits with a structural engineer, architect and electrical engineer, in August.
“We’ll go back and put together a report, look at the needs, the replacements, and compile a report depending on costs,” said Chopp. “We’ll provide a schematic design and report and make a presentation to the board and talk about next steps.... I do live in the Ely area and have kids here, so this is pretty exciting.”
All of the facilities on the district campus, ranging from the baseball, softball and football fields to the gymnasium and ice arena, will be reviewed.
Chopp said the district has issues to consider, pointing to the football field.
“Do you tear down the grandstand?” he asked. “Do you put up aluminum bleachers? D o you leave the football field as is? What are the costs for artificial turf?”
Chopp said the report will “have a menu and then you make some decisions based on funding or future funding.”
“If you want to move forward you could go into design (over the winter) with construction next summer,” said Chopp.
Other possibilities include doing a potential project in phases, or perhaps leveraging the $5.25 million with additional funds.
District financial advisors from Ehlers and Associates are set to meet with school officials later this summer .
“They’re also aware of the $5.25 million that we are getting and where we are falling off on some bonds,” said superintendent Anne Oelke.
Oelke added that district coaches have been surveyed and asked to provide feedback for possible improvements.
“We’ve been getting lots of feedback on needs and wants and wishes,” said Oelke.
The funding for the baseball field was secured in hopes of making some improvements in advance of the Division II American Legion Baseball State Tournament, which will be held in Ely from Aug. 1-3, 2025.
