ELY- The Ely City Council continued its war on blight at its Nov. 7 meeting by approving the demolition of two derelict residential structures and deciding to wait for a report on a third.
The city accepted bids on Oct. 19 from contractors for the demolition of the two-story residence divided into apartments at 726 E. Camp St., and the single-family home at 131 S. Central Ave. “This has been on our docket for a couple of years,” said Harold Langowski, Ely’s clerk-treasurer.
Because of the outcome of the May U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, governmental entities who confiscate tax-forfeited properties must return excess equity after settling a tax bill. Given the uncertainty over how much equity must be returned, the city is doubtful the money can be recovered for demolishing the derelict properties.
“Because of the Supreme Court decision, the city is responsible for the cost of demolition,” said Langowski.
The city council accepted a bid from G-Men Environmental Services for $47,822. For each property, the contractor has 21 calendar days after work begins to demolish structures and grade the site.
The third blighted property is the home partly owned and formerly occupied by Jason Gillson. County tax records show that Mark Herman of Jacobson is listed as an owner along with Gillson.
Gillson allegedly set fire to the home at 45 E. Boundary St. during an incident on Sept. 13 which resulted in multiple felony charges against him, as covered in the Sept. 15 issue of the Timberjay. He is currently out on bail and living in Jacobson.
The home was posted as unsafe to occupy on Sept. 14, with an exception for cleanup and repair activities between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Gillson was served with a violation that the home was not safe to occupy on Oct. 3. Gillson and Vickie Herman of Jacobson were cited on Nov. 1 by Ely’s building official, Doug Whitney, for blight and notified that unless the owners mitigated the unsafe conditions, a public hearing on the blight would be forthcoming.
Included in the Nov. 1 citation was the notification of the additional violation of installing an “unlisted small single wall wood stove on a combustible floor surface. Vented out through the broken-out kitchen window.” The stove was observed to be “extremely rusted” with a plastic gas can and a propane tank next to it on the stairs. Gillson was informed at the time of the citation that he had to remove the stove as soon as it was cool enough to move.
“The city just spent $47,882 on two demolitions and you may be looking at a third,” said city attorney Kelly Klun. “Corrective action at this step is usually a public hearing, but we want another inspection by Doug (Whitney).”
Whitney added, “Access is an issue … The owner is not cooperative.”
Klun mentioned that accessing the insides of the fire-damaged home might require a search warrant. Fire Chief David Marshall commented that the right to re-enter under the fire code might apply.
Langowski remarked, “We’re trying to get access next week … We’ve not seen any corrective actions.”
“No claims have been filed with insurance and no contractor has been hired. The property is just sitting there,” Whitney added.
The matter of 45 E. Boundary St. will be on the agenda again at the next city council meeting.
Other business
In other business on Tuesday, the city council:
• Heard the testimony in open forum of Frederica Musgrave, who said she could not find “any code of ethics, standards of conduct, or conflict of interest” statements or policies in the city’s code and other documents, and urged the city to adopt some that followed the guidelines and recommendations of the Minnesota League of Cities.
She expressed her distress over “the disturbing behavior” of the chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission toward the city council liaison to the commission at the Oct. 19 meeting, where the chair allegedly chastised the liaison, Angela Campbell. Campbell confirmed that an exchange did happen and told the Timberjay that the chair’s words for her were “surprising, disappointing and uncalled for.”
The Oct. 19 meeting was not recorded on video or audio and the minutes do not reflect the exchange. The details are now lost to anything but eyewitness memories. It was for this reason that Musgrave urged the council to record all of the city’s public meetings.
• Approved the recommendation from the Heritage Preservation Commission to issue a request for proposals for videography services for the video and oral histories project to collect stories in celebration of the 100-year anniversary of the Ely Memorial High School building.
• Approved the following recommendations from the Ely Utilities Commission (EUC):
To accept the engineering proposal from AE2S for professional services at the water treatment plant estimated at $33,000 to be paid by the hour.
To allow operators and commissioners to attend the Wastewater Operations and Collection Facilities Conference on Nov. 28-30, in Brooklyn Park
To purchase a regular-cab three-quarter ton Ford pick-up from Lundgren’s for $46,652 for the electric department.
To write off old, uncollectable utility accounts.
To pay EUC September bills of $347,225.
To pay Anthony Gornik $175 for consulting services.
To pay AE2S $14,167 for the wastewater treatment facility improvements project.
To move forward with AMPTEK flow meter wiring installation at the wastewater treatment plan for $5,585.
• Approved the recommendation of the Telecommunications Advisory Board (TAB) to purchase new equipment for $12,000 from Cablecast, following the successful demonstration of the equipment to TAB members Todd Crego and Mauro Caruso. The purchase would provide new cameras and associated gear for Ely’s TV channel available through Midco. “(The equipment) is a third of what we thought it would cost. It is necessary to switch to high definition (TV),” commented Langowski.
• Received the report from library director Rachel Heinrich regarding library hours, prepared for both the library board and city council in response to a letter to an editor regarding the library’s hours and other issues. Heinrich reported that out of the 29 libraries in the Arrowhead region, Ely’s library was open 47.5 hours every week. “There are only three other libraries who run more hours than that, regardless of the size of their staff,” Heinrich commented.
• Approved a recommendation from Employee Relations to hire both Scott Kochendorfer and Janet Dunnom to be trained to fill in for the police department administrative assistant on an as-needed basis.
• Received a communication from Ely-Bloomenson Community Hospital that the annual meeting of the Ely Health and Hospital Foundation will be on Monday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m.
• Approved claims for payment by the city and Ely Utilities Commission for Nov. 7 for $682,373.
• Approved a Sunday liquor license for Kwazy Wabbit at 11 N. Central Ave.
• Approved an application by the Ely Igloo Snowmobile Club to conduct lawful charitable gambling at the Kwazy Wabbit bar.
• Approved the nomination of city council member Paul Kess for another term on the Range Association of Municipalities and School Board of Directors.
• Approved a temporary liquor license for the Ely Folk School, for their annual winter beach party on Dec. 5 at Semer’s Beach.
• Approved the application by the Knights of Columbus Council 3238 to conduct bingo games at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church on Nov. 19 and Dec. 17.
• Approved Resolution 2023-029, which authorizes the city of Ely to apply for and accept funds from the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board’s fiscal year 2023 Development Infrastructure Grant Program and Community Infrastructure Fund Program.