Benjamin Spillman / The Reno Gazette-Journal via AP
This undated file photo shows the Swamp Cedar Natural Area, a tribal site known as the swamp cedars, considered sacred by a number of Shoshone tribes in Ely, northeast Nevada
Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Downtown Ely is seen in an undated file photo. A new ordinance in the city that allows slot machines in restaurant-bars is coming under fire with complaints that it undermines the hotel industry.
Mayor Nathan Robertson wants companies to know that doing business in Ely is “more doable and rewarding than they realize.”
Nevada is a sprawling state with most of its people in two population centers. But beyond the reaches of Las Vegas and Reno is a land filled with attractions and history. Some of them, of course, might not be familiar to most Nevadans. The Sun has reached out to mayors and representatives of the Silver State’s 19 cities, giving them a platform in our pages to talk about their area’s history and attractions and to describe what makes them special and what challenges they face.
Today, we present a Q+A with Ely Mayor Nathan Robertson.
Give us a history lesson. What makes your jurisdiction unique?
The City of Ely is the sixth-
oldest incorporated city in Nevada. The community predates incorporation by a few decades, functioning as a stagecoach stop and center of commerce.
During our copper boom years, Ely was one of the larger economic powerhouses of the state, attracting investments from the Guggenheim family and others. The community produced state leaders including Gov. Vail Pittman. Even today, we are the commerce center for nearly 20,000 square miles — nearly a fifth of the state. That includes nearly 30 mining operations, as well as the state’s only national park, several state parks, state installations, federal installations and some of the best backcountry recreation available in the state.
What kind of attractions and events do you have that people may be interested in visiting?
Two of them are Great Basin National Park and the Nevada Northern Railway Museum — a national historic landmark.
A full list of community events can be found at elynevada.net, but a few of the highlights are the annual Fire and Ice Winter Festival and our Fourth of July celebration, which is one of the best in the state. The Ely Film, Art and Music Festival received a “Best of Nevada” award, and we have a summer concert series in the park, just to name a few.
What new development opening in 2024 has you excited? Why?
The Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows is opening their early-learning center, a facility for infants to children 6 years old. This will transform the availability of our local workforce.
There are some local small businesses and larger chain businesses opening this coming year. I’m excited about all of them, but a number of small businesses that are opening are headed up by locals who have grown up here and come back.
It’s exciting to have locals that are passionate about the community and the opportunities here come home.
What is the biggest challenge facing your jurisdiction?
Housing is probably our biggest challenge at the moment. Due to our remote location, getting contractors here and making it attractive for them to do business here has been a barrier. It’s ideal to have local contractors, but due to retirement and how arduous it is to get licensed in Nevada, it has proven difficult to grow our own contractors too.
What industry is most important to your town’s economy? What about diversifying?
Mining has always been a big part of our local economy, and it still is. Over the past 20 years, our local tourism and recreation economy has really blossomed. Our city of 5,000 brings in as much transient lodging tax annually as does Carson City, a city of 50,000. The state employs a lot of locals between the Department of Corrections and the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and of course parks and the Nevada Department of Wildlife. The federal government has U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management operations here as well.
What opportunity does your community provide for public education? What challenges does it face?
Our local school district operates a number of elementary schools, middle schools and a high school. There is also a charter school that offers kindergarten through eighth-grade classes. We also have a local campus of the Great Basin Community College that offers a number of great courses and programs, including nursing and other vocational programs.
Public education all over the state has been facing challenges. Our local charter school operates a five-star middle school, and the White Pine County School District has been implementing some great vocational and extracurricular programs. Getting teachers has been difficult for everyone and funding has been difficult. Our public school district is operating in some of the oldest buildings in the state, with some dating back almost 120 years. Updating or replacing those is one of their biggest obstacles currently.
What challenges do your residents face with health care availability and cost?
Our hospital services a very large area. They do their best to keep a variety of specialists and services available, but the fact that we are the most remote city in the lower 48 states is one that is just hard to get around. We have two life-flight companies stationed here to get people to advanced medical care as quickly as possible. Overall, I think our level of service here for as remote as we are is very good. That being said, a lot of our older residents and veterans have to travel at least 200 miles more often than not, and that can really be a burden.
Nevadans have lived with historic drought for the past two decades. What initiatives are in place to save the valuable commodity of water?
The city has annual watering restrictions, but updating our water utilities to address leaks and be as efficient as possible is one of biggest initiatives. At an elevation of 6,500 feet, our outdoor growing season and associated water use isn’t very long.
What issues are facing your community regarding roads and transportation?
Ely sits at the intersection of three highways. We get a lot of traffic and shipping going to Idaho and Las Vegas. We’re working with NDOT to make sure we are a well-oiled part of the state, and national transportation infrastructure is always high on our community’s list. We are working with the federal government to secure funding to reopen our rail link that runs 130 miles north to the national rail system. We are also working hard to get our air service back.
Our local roads are in better shape than they have been in a number of years, but winters here are hard and a lot of our infrastructure is very old.
How can public safety be enhanced in your community?
Ely is a pretty safe community. We are always looking for ways to help our law enforcement. In the near future we will be installing some public camera systems in our business districts and public spaces that will help our local departments with their enforcement activities. The city has a well-trained fire/EMS department that is also supported by great volunteer group.
What is one thing you wish the rest of the state knew about your jurisdiction?
That doing business here is more doable and rewarding than they realize.
