Council preps for busy 2005

City council members looked back at the past year and ahead to the new one during their final gathering of 2004.Tuesday’s study session included several year-end reports from department heads, a comprehensive breakdown of city projects and one overriding across-the-board theme: that Ely needs much more money if it is to complete its array of projects and maintain services.Ken Hegman, Ely’s public works superintendent, said his department is scraping by with aging equipment, while city engineers John Jamnick and Harold Langowski of Hibbing firm RLK Kuusisto are looking for funding sources to advance a long list of projects.And Roger Hunter, the city’s assistant police chief, said that law enforcement doesn’t have the resources it needs to handle the problem of methamphetamine use in Ely.Outgoing mayor Frank Salerno presided over the meeting but both mayor-elect Roger Skraba and incoming council member Chuck Novak, who take office Tuesday, were in attendance.Equipment lagsEly will spend more than $1.1 million in public works this year, but much of the budget ($762,395) is eaten up by wages and benefits for employees, leaving $375,700 for equipment, maintenance, fuel, utilities and other items.That’s not enough, according to Hegman, for the department to keep up with the times.“All in all the department gets a lot of work done without a lot of money,” said Hegman.The department makes public safety its top priority while maintaining the city streets and infrastructure, its parks, cemetery and buildings, and performing an assortment of other tasks.After consecutive years of declining state aid, all department budgets were hit and public works was no exception.“Every year is a crunch, but last year was extreme,” said Hegman.The price Ely paid, according to the superintendent, is “the aging condition of our equipment.”“Our newest piece of equipment is a ’99 tandem,” said Hegman. “It goes downhill from there.”Hegman said he hoped the city could free up money for capital equipment and he also praised the efforts of the public works staff, who during the winter are out as early as 4 a.m. to plow city streets and avenues.“They could ignore the 4 a.m. wakeup call, but you will find them when needed doing their job,” said Hegman.Hegman told the council that the elimination of police and fire dispatch service has changed how his department and the Ely Utilities Commission are called out during emergencies.On Christmas eve, the department was paged by county 911 operators when the power went out in part of Ely.The outage occurred in Novak’s neighborhood, and the new council member praised the department for a quick response.“Within 15 minutes, Mr. (Mike) Zgonc and Mr. Hegman were up on a pole,” said Novak.Building increasesThe city’s planning commission had a very busy 2004, according to council member Mike Hillman, who also serves on the commission.A year-end report showed that the city issued 152 building permits this year for nearly $2 million of work. The city collected $23,706 in permit revenue.New home construction in Ely is up, with four new units built this year, the most in several years.The commission also identified several priorities for 2005, including addressing the issue of community parking, the creation of a joint powers development plan for annexation, and that City Hall and the Community Center be maintained so upgrades can be completed when funding becomes available.Other work this year included an update of zoning definitions and areas in town and an ordinance calling for civil enforcement of some city code violations.Hillman said that a one size fits all policy for planning and zoning isn’t feasible in Ely.“It didn’t take me long to realize that each individual case is an individual case,” he said.Police facing changeA year from now, the Ely Police Department could have a completely different look.That was the word from Hunter, who said that retirements may force turnover on the seven-member staff.“In the next year, there are probably four of us who will be eligible to retire, including all of our management,” said Hunter.Ely’s police force is heavy on experience, with six officers combining for 150 years of experience.The time and resources of the department were devoted heavily to meth-related crimes in 2004.Ely had 16 of the 81 meth arrests in an East Range judicial district, and Hunter said that most of the crime in the city can in some way be connected to the drug.“It’s ugly,” said Hunter. “We have a big problem and we’re trying to deal with it.”Salerno said it’s time that the state and federal government help local communities deal with meth.“It takes personnel to work these cases,” said Hunter.Projects aplentyFrom street improvements to recreation to economic development the city is working on a variety of projects.Jamnick and Langowski provided a status report.In addition to the various street projects (see related story), several other developments are in the works.The engineers distributed a map showing the next phase of Ely’s proposed business park development, a $358,000 project that develops 12 lots on the north side of Miners Drive.That would allow for the construction of a large business facility, perhaps twice as big as the building now occupied by the Department of Revenue.The drawings were made after two unidentified firms showed interest in building a facility there in 2004.“For whatever reason, they lost interest,” said Langowski.The roof at City Hall was replaced last year and exterior work is set to be completed in the spring.RLK is also working with the city on proposals ranging from the development of the joint public works garage, plans for a senior housing complex on East Washington Street and the relocation of Lincoln Rink to the business park area.