Charter Chair “embarrassed” by current majority of councilors
Charter Commission Chair Tim Clack announced his resignation calling Council behavior an “embarrassment”. Clack was attacked by some members of the Northfield City Council in October when he attempted to open lines of communication between the two entities. The Charter could best be defined as the City’s constitution and can be more restrictive than State statutes. All of this comes to bear as Clack offered the Commission’s opinion whether a 5/7 vote was required to pass a revision to the LDC when the State says it only needs a 4/3 vote. He told Council at that work session that he wanted them to come to the Charter whenever they struggled with issues like that and he wanted to know that the Charter Commission’s had some sort of value to the Council.
Even if the Council didn’t follow their opinion, at least they listened. You can view the October 27th, 2015 work session on the City’s website. As Clack sat through nearly 30 minutes of haranguing, he finally told Council, “I’m embarrassed for the arguments that ensue amongst councilors”. He continued, “and it’s leading me to think maybe I just need to walk away from this and stop feeling embarrassed”. At the time, he wasn’t ready to give up. But in his resignation letter yesterday, which is posted on kymn.net; he calls out Council behavior and the majority’s complete lack of respect for the Charter, he says with “great angst and regret” he cannot support the majority of councilors who were elected to serve the Community. Clack was on the Commission for 2 years. We have invited Mr. Clack to discuss further on KYMN.
A new high school? A new elementary?
The Northfield School Board had a presentation from Thought Exchange on their facilities study. They had 600 respond with 1200 ideas. Superintendent Richardson said those were then ranked. What the study said is the district could continue to bandaid the buildings, “but at some point we need to take a hard look at what’s the useful life left of our high school and what’s the useful life of Greenvale Park”. Richardson says the core question is how would we pay for this. Further discussions are at least another year out.
Paid family leave passes Senate
Twelve weeks of paid family leave in the Senate bill was passed but not without some controversy. Senator Kevin Dahle says employees would receive up to a $1,000 a week. He said it would cost about 87 cents a week for those making $50,000 or more (that’s for each employee and employer) or 47 cents a week for those making between $25,000 and $50,000. That all goes into a pool, sort of like an unemployment trust fund. It’s a tax on the employer and employee. Companies with 21 employees at minimum must participate. This still has to pass the House.
Sales, dogs and goods!
It’s Girls Night Out tonight; there’s a fundraiser for Believet at The Grand and the Goods for Good garage sales are going on through tomorrow. Go to northfieldshares.org and you’ll find a map of all the locations, most of which are indoors so you won’t have to worry about the rain!
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