Government

The Northfield School Board held its regular meeting on Monday, August 10, 2015, at 7 pm, in the high school media center. A full packet of materials from the meeting can be found here. Highlights of the meeting included:

June 8, 2015

July 13, 2015

The Northfield Public Schools hosted 18 stakeholder meetings last Fall with staff and community members to begin the process of creating a long-term Master Facilities Plan for the District. During the Winter of 2014-15, district staff worked with ATS&R, an architectural firm, to review community feedback and create a series of approaches to be considered for the long-term Master Facilities plan. The District will be hosting a series of meetings in late August and September 2015 regarding the next steps in developing a long-term Master Facilities Plan.

The City of Northfield and Northfield’s PRIMEtime out-of-school-time network were featured in a recent national newsletter published by the National League of Cities.  The article highlights the efforts of the PRIMEtime collaborative to provide free summer programming to over 500 Northfield youth this summer.  Northfield is recognized as a national leader among small cities in creating citywide out-of-school-time systems.

The article notes the City of Northfield’s support for PRIMEtime, including partnerships with the Northfield Public Library, Northfield Police Department, and Northfield City Pool.  The piece also recognizes valuable financial grants provided to PRIMEtime by the Northfield Area United Way, Women In Northfield Giving Support, and Youthprise.

Participating PRIMEtime summer programs include:

• Summer PLUS – serving youth in grades K-5, four days per week for 7 weeks at Greenvale Park Elementary School
• Summer BLAST – serving youth in grades 6-8, four days per week for 7 weeks, and splitting time between Northfield Middle School & Carleton College
• The Key – a youth-run youth center in downtown Northfield, open daily to all youth ages 12-20

Partners in the PRIMEtime collaborative include the Northfield Public Schools,Northfield Healthy Community Initiative, Tackling Obstacles and Raising College Hopes, Carleton College, St. Olaf College, and Minnesota Alliance With Youth Promise Fellows program.

To access the full National League of Cities article, CLICK HERE.

The new River Walk gazebo was installed. This is a friendly reminder to the entire Northfield community: please be cautious about the unfinished concrete ramp leading to the Gazebo. The concrete ramp will be re-poured the week of July 13.

For more information, contact Project Manager Jasper Kruggel at 507-645-3027 or jasper.kruggel@ci.northfield.mn.us.

The City of Northfield had the honor of being recognized as a Minnesota GreenStep City and received Step 2 and 3 block awards at the recent League of Minnesota Cities Conference on June 26th for advancing through Step 2 to become a Step 3 City in the Minnesota GreenStep Cities program.

“This recognition shows community members and other cities across Minnesota that the City of Northfield is taking great steps in the direction of energy and resource conservation and innovation,” shared Jasper Kruggel, the Minnesota GreenStep Cities Coordinator for the City of Northfield.

Northfield Mayor Dana Graham talks about NAFRS in this new short video.

http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/MediaCenter.aspx?VID=Minute-with-the-MayorNAFRSJune-29-2015-75#player 

Follow this link to the City of Northfield site where you can find this list.  Congratulations to the entire Northfield Community!

http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=298

After a long delay due to technical difficulties, here are the videos from the two regular Northfield School Board meetings in May 2015. Agendas and other materials from both meetings can be found here. 

Monday, May 11, 2015

“Update on Public Engagement Process for Woodley Street Reconstruction Project” was the first item on the agenda for the Northfield City Council at last night’s Work Session. City Engineer/Public Works Director Dave Bennett took the first twenty minutes to give the Council an overview of the project process and public engagement. Discussion then followed for about an hour.

Powerpoint presentation: 0-20:00
Staff’s Project Scope Recommendation: 20:00-22:15
Council discussion: 22:15-01:16:00

Video link:
https://northfield.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=367673&GUID=258A87B5-9A4E-489E-BC17-B89EAE673892&Search=#

Mayor Dana Graham talks about upcoming projects in his latest Minute with the Mayor video.

http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/MediaCenter.aspx?CID=Minute-with-the-Mayor-13

The Mayor’s Youth Council is hosting a community garage sale this Friday and Saturday.  There are hundreds of items for sale!  The sale is part of the Northfield Shares “Goods for Good” community garage sale initiative.

WHEN:  

• FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015 — 3:30-6:00 p.m.
• SATURDAY, MAY 16, 2015 — 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

WHERE: Northfield Maintenance Facility (1710 Riverview Drive, behind Perkins Restaurant and across from the new police station)

WHY? All proceeds will go to the Northfield YouthBank, which provides grants to youth-run projects. All funds raised at the sale will be matched — dollar-for-dollar — by the Youthprise Foundation.

The regular meeting of the Northfield School Board was held on Monday, April 27, 2015, at 7 pm, in the high school media center. Highlights of the meeting included approval of changes to the Transformational Technology program, including a new school iPad lease. 

I'm managing the online citizen engagement blog for the 2016 Woodley St. Reconstruction Project. There have been two community/neighborhood meetings thus far, with more scheduled in the next few weeks. I've posted meeting photos with the Powerpoint presentations on the blog. The City has created an online questionnaire that's open now through May 13. They're seeking comments from all Northfield residents, in particular regarding:

1. Sidewalks: 1 side or both sides?
2. Bike lanes: 1 side or both sides?
3. Parking: 1 side or both sides?
4. Trees: Tree Removal