Roger Skraba

file photo

ELY – Local native and former mayor Roger Skraba will take the gavel for a fourth term next week as the top elected official in the city of Ely
Just 785 Ely voters turned out for a special general election on Tuesday to choose Skraba over Heidi Omerza. Skraba received 376 votes, or 47.3 percent, to barely beat Omerza, who was close behind with 363 votes, or 46.2 percent. Omerza will continue as a member of the city council.
With 2,303 registered voters in the city, voter turnout was about 34 percent. There were 638 ballots cast in person at the Senior Center on Tuesday and 147 absentee votes were submitted.
Interim mayor Chuck Novak received 36 write-in votes. Novak was unseated from the mayoral seat last November by newcomer Eric Urbas, who dropped out of the race months earlier because of health concerns, but still won. Urbas declined to accept the two-year term as mayor. Novak was appointed interim mayor in January. Skraba and Omerza were the top vote-getters in a five-candidate primary in April.
Skraba will begin his term later this month after the council canvasses the vote totals from the special election. He term will last just 15 months. Ely voters will go to the polls next November to again vote for mayor.
Skraba was born and raised in Ely, graduated from Ely Memorial High, and went to North Dakota State University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in construction management and a minor in political science. He worked for Cold Spring Granite Company for two years after graduating from NDSU and moved back to Ely. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army Reserves and Minnesota National Guard after nine years of service, and serves as a member of the Ely Honor Guard.
Skraba is also a veteran politician. He was elected to the Ely City Council twice and then as mayor three times. He is currently the chairman of the St. Louis County Planning Commission and vice chair of the Board of Adjustment. He also leads Club Mesabi, the Mesabi Bike Trail and is the trail administrator for the Tomahawk Snowmobile Trail and the local snowmobile trails.
In a candidate forum earlier this year, Skraba praised the established businesses in the city, such as Steger Mukluks and Razors Edge and stressed the importance of working with such businesses to help them expand and grow.
“Razors Edge could be grown as big as Gerber Foods,” he said.
Skraba also called for more fiber optic development to attract a younger workforce.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has opened our eyes to more people working from their homes. And I see copper-nickel mining as part of the solution to our 20-year vision.”