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Ellsworth Village Attorney Robert Loberg used a break in the village board meeting to break some news last Monday night.

While a presenter at the meeting was having problems communicating with the board and was being called on the phone, Loberg was asked how the final agreement with BMO Harris Bank was going.

The village approved the purchase of the building that the bank vacated last spring for $425,000. It will be renovated as the new home for the Village of Ellsworth Library and, in the future, a senior center.

Of the agreement, Loberg said, “It’s good to go.”

He said finalizing paperwork gets some deadlines looming for the village, which will have 45 days to inspect the building, and then the purchase will close within 45 days of that.

At the start of the meeting, Village Administrator/ Clerk/Treasurer Nicole Stewart reported that the search is still on for an office assistant. One candidate did not want to work more than 20 hours per week.

“The candidate we elected declined our offer, and there was no budging on the 20 hours. We’re hopeful we’ll find somebody,” she said.

The village has three job openings posted in this edition of The Journal: That office job, a public works position and a part-time police officer post.

Moving on to other committee reports, Village Board member Becky Beissel said that a verbal agreement was reached for Mayo Health Systems to take over the medical director duties for the Ellsworth Ambulance.

“Mayo has verbally said they will take over our medical director needs. The operating committee chair (Dan Fischer) and they are working on the contract. In the meantime, the current medical director (through Regions Hospital) has agreed to stay on until the end of March 2021 to cover the gap,” said Beissel.

In the police department report, Police Chief Eric Ladwig said that oftentimes citizens see Pierce County squads pulled over assisting Ellsworth officers. He said the village also has been getting several requests for mutual aid from the county also.

“They are calling on us quite a bit,” he said. “This month, I noticed it was kind of high.”

There were eight total calls from the county.

He said instances have ranged from domestic situations to problems at the Pierce County Jail to a person lying in the roadway.

The calls are always within five miles of the village limits.

Ladwig also reported on a health code situation at an Oak Street home. He said that Pierce County Public Health has taken measures to attempt to get the property cleaned up.

“My understanding is that the renter can come there to clean but can’t stay there for any length of time,” he said.

The homeowner is being cited regularly.

“I’m going to issue weekly citations until I see some cleanup there,” Ladwig said. “There’s been a lot of talk but no action. I’m tired of that.”

Ladwig also noted that grant programs from the state that have helped the village and countless departments buy things from computers to body cameras and squad equipment are ending.

“I got notified that the state is no longer giving those grants. It’s disappointing. It was a really good resource for a small department,” he said.

In December, the police department had 300 total calls for service. Police issued 102 parking citations, five ordinance citations and six traffic citations.

In the public works report, the village board was notified that the village didn’t get the $50,000-$75,000 in Safe Drinking Water grant funding for its valve replacement.

Also notable was that past due water bills as of Dec. 28 tallied $55,371.49. Utility services can’t be disconnected because of COVID-19.

The village board was warned that this is going to be a problem when pandemic restrictions are removed.

In the library report, it was stated that circulation was up from the previous month. Programs are still virtual.