UPDATE: An earlier crash at 5th and Washington in Northfield is clear. Police Chief Monte Nelson said a vehicle swerved and hit a guide wire, which ignited one of the white pylons. No one was hurt and the power was restored quickly.
Master Facilities Plan has big plans for Nfld elementary schools
The Northfield School Board heard from ATS&R, the consulting firm for their Master Facilities Plan last week. Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann says there are 2 parts to the long range plan. First is the Building Life Cycle Management Plan which looks at the physical, environmental and educational adequacies of each building. The District has 2 “Next Projects”. Hillmann says that doesn’t mean there’s going to be a bond issue right away, rather, every year the Board should look at and consider if the conditions are right for them to activate one of the projects. There’s a high school
and an elementary school project which includes a new Greenvale Park Elementary school on the current site. There’s enough green space there to build a multi-level facility for about 600 students. They would then do minor renovations to the current facility and repurpose it for an Early Childhood Center. All early childhood would then be under one roof. At Sibley elementary they would look at adding a music space, a media center and/or a larger cafeteria. Bridgewater would add a front office with a controlled entry. The current office would be used for additional special education and/or other small group instruction. At Longfellow, the most energy efficient building they have, would eventually be used for District offices. The ALC would stay there. The estimated cost for all of that would be $28.4 million. The next project would be a new high school. We’ll have more on that tomorrow. The Master Facilities plan will be on the School Board’s agenda for November 28th. The District will be bonding for a new roof on Bridgewater next summer which will be about $1.3 million.
HPC starts new initiatives
The Northfield Heritage Preservation Commission has launched a few new initiatives. Including face to face interviews with building owners. Barbara Evans has already set up about 12! She said they’re asking about their interaction with the HPC, what kinds of things they’ve asked for, what they can do better. Evans said that’s where it gets really interesting as it gives her the chance to get inside the buildings. She said, “these aren’t just big beautiful dinosaur buildings, they are functional. Some of them have 20 other businesses within them. So they are a significant part of commerce”. Another initiative is a monthly guest column in the Northfield News on preservation with many varied topics including tourism, the economics of the town and the “nitty gritty” of what it takes to run one of these buildings. These columns will also be on the Northfield Historical Society’s website.
Expect extra DUI enforcement starting tomorrow
Rice County Law Enforcement will be participating with agencies statewide in an extra DWI enforcement campaign starting tomorrow and on weekends through Dec. 30th. Officers, deputies and troopers from more than 300 agencies will be working overtime with funding provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Local law enforcement participating include Northfield, Dundas, Faribault and many other cities. Northfield Sgt. Kevin Tussing said, “A drunk driving death is 100 percent avoidable.”
Click below to listen to the 11-22-16 NEWS podcast:
Listen for news updates on-air at 6, 7, 8, Noon, 3 and 5
