Council approves “Separation Policy”
The Northfield Council unanimously approved a personnel policy regarding Employee Conduct as it relates to Immigration Status. In his opening statement, City Administrator Ben Martig said, “In my opinion this proposed policy is more appropriately described as a Separation Policy as it distinguishes federal responsibility of immigration enforcement. Conversely our local police department does not enforce federal immigration law as it’s primary purpose”. He added, “our policy does not create what may be perceived as Sanctuary City as a proposed city will not protect undocumented residents in Northfield from Immigration Enforcement from the Federal government”. Council Chambers was full and the City provided a Spanish Interpreter. Some stated that they are happy to have Police Chief Nelson but fearful that
could change if/when he leaves. Legal immigrants voiced the fears they still live with coming from countries that were routinely bombed and where law enforcement was brutal. Some long-time residents wanted more from the City. Martig stated earlier, “In my opinion using the term sanctuary city is not a defined term from our research that we reviewed and is proven to be misleading to the public and is also proven to also fuel divisiveness on the issue that I’ve seen in trying to communicate this to the public locally”. Ben Casper, an Immigration attorney who teaches on the subject said lawyers across the country are working on appropriate language. Most councilors felt the personnel policy is a good “first step”. Councilor DeLong cautioned that the City is not a church. He added, “we are representative of the Federal government through the State government. That’s where our power flows from and we all take an Oath to support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of Minnesota and that’s an Oath that I take seriously. I don’t believe this (policy) steps on that Oath”. He encouraged balanced representation of all residents. Chief Nelson commented on KYMN that his officers canNOT just detain someone for immigration status. That is solely in the purview of Immigration officers. Martig and Mayor-elect Rhonda Pownell and Marlene Rojas and Mar Valdecantos were in studio this morning. The two interviews are posted on this website. Along with Martig’s interview are related documents including the policy they approved and more.
Good news with influx of students in Northfield schools
The School district gets funding based on enrollment. For a few years they believed the 2017/18 school year would be when they’d have to make cuts, but, Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillman said, with the influx of 134 students this year, it’s not necessary. He said the power of those 134 students means they won’t have to make budget reductions in the 2017/18 or 18/19 school years. Hillmann says during their open enrollment they had 35 students come in from one neighboring district. Many others are those moving into town.
Levy up + tax rate down = lower taxes?
The Dundas City council passed their 2017 budget this week. Dundas Administrator John McCarthy said there’s a significant increase in the levy but because of the decertification of a TIF district, there’s going to be a significant decrease in the tax rate. That means if a property owners value does not change, their taxes in the City of Dundas should go down by 11{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9}. The TIF is the College City Beverage district. McCarthy said the impact is so great because of the large commercial tax base which 80{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} of it was in the TIF. It was a short TIF at just 8 years and, McCarthy said, allowed the City to provide some great infrastructure improvements as well as helping College City Beverage to move from their 2nd largest tax payer to their first!
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