Government

The city’s Arts and Culture Commission seeks nominees for the annual Northfield Living Treasure Award which honors individuals or groups who have made significant contributions to arts and culture in the community. The recipient may be a practitioner in the arts or of cultural endeavors or be a supporter of and advocate for the arts and or culture. The award is one of recognition and has no financial value. It is also sponsored by the Northfield News.

The Arts and Culture Commission was created in 2007 as a result of recommendations made by Arts Plan 06, a community arts and cultural planning process, which assessed the strengths and weaknesses of current arts and cultural realities along with citizens' aspirations for the future. The ArtsPlan06 process was initiated by the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation and funded by the City.

A special council meeting has been scheduled for Monday, August 23rd from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at City Hall to solicit public comments on the City’s budget. This is in advance of the City Council establishing the City’s preliminary 2011 property tax levy and well in advance of the formal public hearing held in early December. The City has experienced significant reductions in state aid and the Mayor and Council have set a goal of achieving a balanced budget without any state aid by the year 2015. This represents a decrease of just over $2 million dollars over the next four years or 20% of the General Fund budget, $500,000 in 2011. The General Fund’s operations cover most basic city services including police, fire, public works, community development, parks and recreation, library and administration.

Update: see results @ City of Northfield website

The 2010 Minnesota primary election is today. Make sure to vote!

Find your polling place.

Read more about the primary.

While doing the League of Women Voters observing  for the record breaking, 5 and 1/2 hour City Council meeting last Tuesday, August 3, some opportunities for citizen information and input came up. First of all, the Council will be meeting  at 8 AM, next Monday Morning, (August 9), to interview four candidates for the interim City Administrator position; this of course occasioned by current Administrator Joel Walinski's departure for a similar position in Leavenworth, WA. 

Want to discuss the Council races or any other issues facing Northfield City Hall?

Chime in here!  I won't be participating myself in this discussion (I'm on sabbatical) but I thought I'd start things off in case others are interested.

The resolution for continued support for A Culture of Peace for the Children of the World is on the City Council agenda Tuesday, Aug. 3rd -- TOMORROW.

KYMN is broadcasting the candidates forums tonight and you can watch it here! The chat window embedded in the whole story is shared with the entire town! You can follow along and discuss the meeting without leaving your office. :)

The primary election will be held August 10th this year -- which is right around the corner.  If you have not decided which City Council candidates to vote for,  the League of Women Voters is sponsoring a Primary Candidates Forum.  The public is invited to attend the forum which will be held Thursday, July 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the City Council Chambers at Northfield City Hall, 801 Washington Street. 

There are two City Council positions on the primary ballot and there are three candidates running for each position.  The candidates running for the At Large seat are Norman Butler, Steve Engler and Rhonda Pownell.  The candidates running for the Fourth Ward seat are Jon Denison, Patrick Ganey and Dale B. Gehring.  

With the primary election coming on August 10, 2010, Northfielders who may be out of town, or for other reasons, not able to get to the polls that day, should take advantage of absentee voting.  Beginning June 28, 2010, Northfield residents may vote in the primary election at City Hall, during regular business hours (Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.). For information about the Primary Election, check out the absentee voting information on the city’s web page.

The August primary is an important step in preparing for the November election.  That there are several people competing for so many offices shows a high degree of interest in serving at all levels of government this season.  This should create interest in the electorate as well, and, may result in a better than usual turnout at the August primary election. 

Celebrate Dundas is a family-friendly event to celebrate the storied and vibrant history of Northfield's closest neighbor! Activities will kick off tonight, Friday, June 25, at the Dundas Dukes baseball game and will continue throughout the day on Saturday, June 26, in the historic downtown district.

Be sure to join us for live music, a children's carnival, pancake breakfast, classic car show, horse-drawn wagon tours, ArtOrg steamroller printing, one-day museum, food vendors and much more!

For more information, visit www.cityofdundas.org.

Is the library economically, culturally, or socially important for the downtown area?

For a spring anthropology class, five students from St. Olaf collaborated on a survey of 32 different people from three groups: business owners, library patrons, and citizens of Northfield.

We conducted 32 interviews with business owners, community members, and library patrons in order to gain information about how they viewed the library in relation to downtown Northfield. These interviews revealed that the library contributes a great deal to the City Center community by acting as an “anchor” for the downtown area, serving as a meeting place for citizens, and providing a quality space that has a wealth of resources. The two main challenges for the library mentioned by interviewees included a lack of adequate parking and the need to keep up with technology.

You can click here to read the entire report via Google Documents.

On May 18th, the League of Women Voters Northfield-Cannon Falls hosted a "What's Up?" meeting at the Hideaway in downtown Northfield.  Mary Rossing, the Mayor of Northfield, provided an overview of the options that the city is considering for addressing the needs for updating the Police and Fire facilities.  With the use of multiple graphs and charts, she was able to respond to the many questions from the audience of interested Northfield residents—a mixture of League members and non members.  There was active discussion about the various options and the process for making a decision.  Should the current location be re-used?  If not, where is the best location—not only for current needs, but future needs?  

Someone has created a "City of Northfield PR" account on Twitter and is posting status updates as if they're officially from the city.  The city is apparently pretty ticked off and will be investigating.  Until then, you can see the hilarity unfold at http://twitter.com/City_of_Nfld_PR

Mayor Mary Rossing spoke to a large group of citizens at a forum held by the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation on Tuesday morning. Her topics were the city’s capital improvement projects (the fire and police facilities) and the on-going budget issues. Because the council will make funding decisions on the safety facilities and the expansion of the library at their June 15 meeting, she said she is eager to talk with as many people as possible to explain the projects, to urge them to take tours of the facilities as well as to communicate with the council. 

The filing period to run for Northfield City Council, and Rice County Commissioners begins next week on Tuesday May 18 and runs through Tuesday, June 1.

The Northfield League of Women Voters urges all interested residents to consider running for public office as a way to serve your community.

For the information you need to file for office, including open seats, filing fees, etc., see the League of Women Voters website.