Government

Candidate for governor Becky Lourey (left) visits with Jasmin and Amber Barksdale, Molly Woehrlin and Charles Skinner during a house party hosted Thursday, January 12, by Sharon Gates-Hull in Northfield. Lourey held the first town hall-style meeting of the campaign later in the evening at St. Olaf College. She also visited along Division Street and viewed the farm art exhibit at Northfield Arts Guild.

Pictured (from left to right): Becky Lourey (sitting on table), Jasmine Barksdale, Amber Barksdale, Molly Woehrlin, Charles Skinner.

Mayor Lee Lansing announced at tonight's City Council meeting that Third Ward Councilor Arnie Nelson is in Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Mpls tonight. Lee said that Arnie fell and hit his head a couple of weeks ago and went he went in for a checkup yesterday, it was discovered that he had some blood on his brain. Arnie told Lee by phone earlier today that he was doing well and was expecting to make a full recovery.

The Northfield City Council meets Monday at 7 pm at Northfield City Hall, 801 Washington Street.

The agenda and complete council packet are available on the City's Jan. 9 agenda web page.

Northfield Public Library Director Lynne Young (left) barricaded herself in her office yesterday, refusing to come out until the old carpet (left center) was removed and new carpet (right center) installed. Children's Programming Librarian Kathy Ness (right, with Lynne at a Booker event last summer) submitted these photos. Click to enlarge.

The NDDC's Downtown Forum hosts Northfield Mayor Lee Lansing (shown at the Governors Ball; click to enlarge) for a question-and-answer session on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 8 a.m. at the Archer House's lower-level conference room.

See the calendar entry of the event for more.

The State Auditor has released an Analysis of Municipal Liquor Store Operations For the Year Ended December 31, 2004.

The report shows that the City of Northfield's municipal liquor store had a net profit of $118,500 (5.5%) for the year. (Click to enlarge graphic.) Stephen DeLong is the manager of the Muni.

Approximately 63% of the teachers in the Northfield school district participated in last week's vote on the Q-Comp proposal. The results: No: 118; Yes: 61. Here are the documents (PDFs):

Left: Q-Comp application to the state (41 page PDF); Center: Q-Comp overview/summary graphic (1 page PDF); Right: Q-Comp Performance Evaluation Rubric (24 page PDF).

Public discussion of the Q-Comp proposal and vote continues on the ISSUES list. See the web-based archives for the comments.

Northfield City Councilor Galen Malecha, NDDC Exec. Director Ross Currier, and Northfield's Director of Public Works Heidi Hamilton met this morning at the GBM to discuss issues surrounding a traffic light at Hwy 3 and 3rd St. Galen told me last week that he and fellow councilors support the installation of a light there and are discussing strategies to make it happen.

See Ross' blog post, New Hope for the Traffic Light at 3rd and 3, for his view of the issue and their meeting.

I got this email and photo (click to enlarge) from David Gonnerman, media relations/photographer guy at St. Olaf:

"On Monday St. Olaf College Vice President and Treasurer Alan Norton (right) presented a check to 3rd Ward Alderman Arnie Nelson (a St. Olaf alumnus whose ward includes St. Olaf), while Carleton College Vice President and Treasurer Fred Rogers (left) presented a check to Northfield Mayor Lee Lansing. The two checks, totaling $138,000, are an annual donation to the city's general fund. Beginning in the 1920s, St. Olaf and Carleton were among the first colleges in the nation to offer such contributions to their city."

The Northfield City Council meets Monday at 7 pm at Northfield City Hall, 801 Washington Street.

The agenda and complete council packet are available on the City's Dec. 19 agenda web page.

The Northfield City Council meets Monday at 6 pm at Northfield City Hall, 801 Washington Street.

The agenda and complete council packet are available on the City's Dec. 12 agenda web page.

The City of Northfield has a new Tell the City about web page that invites citizens to fill out forms informing the City about:

• A good experience
• Streetlight trouble
• Potholes
• Graffiti
• Garbage pickup problem
• Recycle pickup problem
• Housing code violations
• Traffic speed problem
• Crime info or leads

There's also a drop-down menu on the City's home page for this feature.

The City of Northfield has scapped its Meetings web page in favor of a Calendar page that shows an entire month. "The calendar shows four different types of content: events (e.g. Library Book Club), standing meetings (e.g. City Council Meetings), public notices, and special meetings associated with projects."

It also has added a "Calendar this week" feature on its home page.

The Northfield EDA met on Thursday morning at City Hall and then hosted a Public Input Forum on the Q-Block in the Archer House Conference Room on Thursday night.

Left photo, L to R: Dixon Bond, Rick Estenson, Paul Smith, Tracy Davis, Deanna Kuennen, Brian O'Connell, Bill Cowles, Mark Moors
Left center photo: Consultant John Slack from Dahlgren, Shardlow, and Uban with EDA president Paul Smith
Right center photo: SMSQ architect Steve Wilmot next to City Councilor Jim Pokorney,
Right photo: Mendota Homes developer John Mathern. He's one of eight who own property on the Q-Block.

The City of Northfield has a PDF map of this winter's Walk & Path Clearing Route posted on their web site.