The Village of Ellsworth Golf Cart Ordinance has officially gone into effect. Ellsworth Clerk, Treasurer and Administrator Nicole Stewart reported that several applications are already being processed for village residents. Once the application form and fee are turned in to the village, an Ellsworth Police Officer will follow up to inspect the vehicle. Once the inspection is passed, the resident will receive a sticker for their cart and a map showing where they can legally travel.

The Village office is open to foot traffic, though not in its’ normal capacity. Only one person is allowed to enter at a time and Village staff will deep clean and sanitize the entryway between visitors.

“With COVID-19, we are closed to traffic, but we have been allowing people to do curbside absentee voting,” Stewart said. “We utilize our dropbox as much as possible.”

Stewart said that with some big elections coming up, they are trying to find the most safe and efficient way to get voters in and out of the building.

“We are very busy but we are adapting well with the COVID restrictions,” Stewart informed. “We are actively pursuing grants right now. We are seeing what are available to us and we are applying; one area we are targeting is technology so we can get the updates we need.”

“All of our staff are still working, we are just doing it in a different capacity,” Stewart said. “If you call, someone answers the phone, if you email us, we will respond. If you’re at the front door, we will answer.”

The elections coming up will look a little bit different than prior years. Curbside absentee voting is one option available to voters interested, while the Village will be discussing their options to best serve local community members that want to vote in person.