Dundas/Northfield find common ground for E. Cannon River Trail
There were at least 30 in the audience in Council Chambers last night as Northfield and Dundas Council met to discuss the E. Cannon River trail. Dundas Administrator John McCarthy remarked yesterday that Northfield has had 2 Mayors, 3 Administrators and an Interim and 3 City engineers since the project started (2009) and each of them have had different ideas and there may have been some misunderstanding as they went through the process. Mayor Switzer noted Dundas council wants the trail to happen and, because of that, they are willing to go up to $88,000 to pay for their portion. A cooperative agreement was offered to Dundas a couple of weeks ago by Northfield staff but details needed to be worked out.
Mayor Graham sat down with Switzer and McCarthy yesterday before the meeting and negotiated a 5 year loan agreement. They also talked about when the acquisition grant money would be released to Dundas. They discussed maintenance as well. Dundas adjourned their portion of the meeting last night at 7:30 and left. Councilor Ludescher was not satisfied with the answers from staff to his questions regarding the agreement, the wetlands and the planning commission’s involvement. He made a motion to adjourn which failed. He left the meeting at that time. DeLong then went on with HIS questions. Graham commended him saying, “he pays so much attention to these details that many of us miss and it really is an education in listening to him. He did a great job of asking questions and staff did a great job of answering those questions and that’s what we needed to do”. DeLong thanked council, staff and the audience for their patience with him. Northfield Council will vote on the trail next week and award the bid, it will likely pass. Ludescher was on the Wayne Eddy Affair this morning with further explanation of his feelings on the issue.
Northfield School Board “loud and clear” on direction for behavior interventionist
The Northfield School Board listened to a presentation on what Administration sees as one of the most significant issues they’ve been facing in the last few years, that’s behavioral issues in elementary level students due to mental health issues, home life and other challenges. Superintendent Dr. Chris Richardson said the impact is not only on the student but on the entire classroom and the teacher. As we mentioned before, they are looking at adding a behavior interventionist at each elementary school, the core purpose of that individual is to be there to address crisis situations, to deescalate those and to also work with kids on “replacement” behaviors. They also need to think of training teachers and support parents. While specifics were not given, Richardson said they heard loud and clear from the Board, “that they’re interested in us coming back with a proposal on that before the end of this school year”.
HCI to take lead on Tri-City grant to help youth
Youthprise announced a 3-year grant totaling $579,000 to “Tri-City Bridges to the Future”, a new collaborative in Northfield, Faribault, and Red Wing, including the MN Correctional Facility-Red Wing. The initiative will offer career pathways approaches for 85 youth ages 14-24 who are in foster care, involved in the juvenile justice system, homeless, or are disconnected from school and work. The primary focus is high school completion with dual enrollment options in higher education and postsecondary training in career clusters. The Northfield Healthy Community Initiative (HCI) will serve as the convener and backbone organization for the coalition. Lead partners include several entities along with Northfield Public Schools and more than 20 local businesses and community organizations. Founded in 2010 by the McKnight Foundation, Youthprise is a nonprofit that invests in MN youth.
Faribault Foods breaks ground for expansion
Faribault Foods held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for their expansion project. State Representative Brian Daniels said Faribault Foods is a local success story and this historic expansion gives the company the capability to continue providing good paying jobs to the community for many years to come. The $100 million expansion will triple the size of the complex.
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