The Cannon’s Rise and Fall
As one of the rainiest Augusts in recent years, Northfield Police Chief Monte Nelson and his department have been keeping a close eye on River levels. The Cannon rises as more rain falls in the Straight and Cannon Watersheds in Owatonna and Faribault. Nelson said Northfield’s Emergency Management Director Tim Isom has been taking readings each day of the multiple gauges along the 2 rivers. Nelson added, “every part of the river acts different at different heights where all of a sudden water starts
backfilling into, what we call, storage areas. Between here and Faribault there’s a lot of that where it backs into fields and backwater ponding areas”. He says that’s all good as it keeps the level down in town but it also adds to the unpredictability of flooding. Nelson said they also improved “the old stick method”. They made a permanent marked foot gauge behind the Fire Station. If it gets to 3 feet there, that means the river is at 897 feet and will start flowing into the holes in the west river wall by Larson’s, another foot or so and it will go over. Once that happens, a lot of water can flow back along the river walk north and south. The river went up slightly from yesterday, but has already started to trend downward. However, rain is in the forecast for Saturday.
Dundas Enterprise Fund gets a look-see
Dundas Council discussed the Enterprise Fund. City Administrator John McCarthy explains that an Enterprise Fund is “basically how cities use their revenue producing aspects of the City. Their non tax revenue”. In this case it’s the water system. McCarthy says you want the fees charged to cover the expenses of operation. “You don’t want to make money on these funds but you don’t want to lose money on these funds”. Dundas has 4 Enterprise Funds, water, sewer, stormwater and refuse. Water and sanitary sewer are intertwined. Council may reduce the rates but it’s complicated. McCarthy said, “we’re looking at one, having to increase the water rates, and that may be fairly substantial but it looks like we’ll also be taking a greater decrease in the sewer rates”. While water increases, sewer decreases but it’s all a wash in the end. The bond payments for the sewer will be starting when other bond payments will be dropping off. Dundas Council will vote on their preliminary budget and levy on September 12th.
Hwy 3 and 3rd scheduled to open September 6th
Traffic Control crews were on-site at Hwy 3 and 3rd Street in Northfield this week to do a traffic switch to the outside lanes of Hwy 3 so work could begin on the pedestrian median. Concrete crews continued pouring sidewalks and decorative concrete. Next week, paving crews are expected to put the final lifts of bituminous on the west side of Third Street. Later in the week, Pavement marking crews are expected to install the final striping on the entire project. City Engineer Sean Simonson says they expect to have the road back open to full traffic by September 6th. The pedestrian flasher system is expected to be installed the week of September 12th. There will be some intermediate lane closures while that work is being completed.
AGT passes on The Passing Zone
And The Passing Zone didn’t make the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent last night. Jon Wee commented to me earlier this week that having the exposure from the show is a big plus whether they keep moving through or not.
Click below to listen to the 8-25-16 NEWS podcast:
Listen for news updates on-air at 6, 7, 8, Noon, 3 and 5
