A Faribault mother was not going to take it. According to a criminal complaint filed Monday, a woman and her two girls had gone to the Faribault HyVee on November 3rd. After putting the girls in the car, she returned the shopping cart. While walking back, a man in a white Tahoe, parked next to her, called out “Hey Lady”. She clearly saw him masturbating. One of her daughters asked who that was. That’s when the man took off and the victim followed him to I-35 and lost him. She called police and gave the plate number. Police obtained video of that night and saw the Tahoe drive around the lot for about 10 minutes, pulling up to cars and then settling into the space next to the woman and her
children. After tracking down the vehicle owner, the woman said it wasn’t the same man. Turns out he was selling the vehicle to 26 year old Marte Quintero-Espino. The woman positively identified him. Quintero-Espino went to the Faribault police department on Monday but told officers he had been video chatting with a woman that wanted him to do that. There was no evidence of that on his phone. He’s charged with indecent exposure in front of a minor and indecent exposure in a public place. His initial court appearance is December 12th. He’s currently in the Rice County jail. Quintero-Espino complaint 2913
Aging in Place development hinges on Council ok
The demand for aging in place options is accelerating. Northfield Hospital and Clinics has been in talks with Yanik Companies for about 3 years with the end goal a housing complex across from the Hospital that allows for Independent living, Assisted living and Memory Care on one campus. Last night the majority of partners in the project met in a work session with Northfield Council. CEO Steve Underdahl presented the background and answered some of the questions council had from last week. He added that it’s been important to be assured that Yanik would meet all the City’s building standards. Benedictine Health System would operate the facility. Underdahl said they explored many options including building their own, which would cost millions of dollars, other companies were interested in partnering with them, but they wanted the Hospital to be the bank. What they like about this scenario is that Yanik is not asking for any money from the hospital or from the City. They are not interested in TIF dollars either. Yanik Companies would put up all the development dollars, about $20 million according to Chester Yanik. Underdahl did make it very clear that the Hospital’s nursing home will NOT close for now. The decision of whether this happens comes down to the Council. Northfield City Admin Ben Martig explains the request is to amend the lease agreement with St. Olaf (it’s their land) to remove the 2 pieces of property from their lease for two phases of development. The Hospital is serving as a 3rd party facilitator. They’re also recommending there’s a condition that the development occurs and that the building meets City standards. St. Olaf who has agreed to the terms. Mayor Pownell said, “some additional due dilligence really needs to happen in regards to that at this point. That’s part of the City process”. The plan is to start construction June 1st, 2018. To do that, Council needs to approve the lease amendment and a development agreement. The action of the lease is scheduled for Dec. 12th. A development agreement would kick in which means a “lot more rigorous process” for the City’s staff once they get the actual site plan. Approval for the development agreement on their January 19th agenda. There was a lot of information exchanged in the 2 hour meeting. Here is the audio of the meeting (this was taken on my phone recorder and sitting away from the speakers) NH&C and Council meeting
A sign of “the one”
Take a cruise down Division Street at 2nd in Northfield and check out 95 The One’s new sign! The old KYMN sign had been there since 2003 when the station studios were moved downtown. After years of negotiating and getting our FM signal, KYMN rebranded itself as 95 The One last year. The culmination of the changes came yesterday when Jim Bonhoff, signmaker extraordinaire, completed installation of our new sign. Thanks to Jim, the City of Northfield and Carleton College, who owns the building, for the okay to make it happen.
Locals on House Tax Bill
The House passed its version of the Republican tax overhaul. Northfield CPA Leota Goodney was part of a teleconference on it. She’s concerned that the House bill does away with the medical deduction. She said for her retired clients, if they have to go into assisted living or a nursing home, all they would have to pay for those facilities with their assets such as their homes and savings. Conservative Bruce Morlan countered with a story about his mother who went into a nursing home many wanted to shelter his assets but his mother said that wasn’t fair if he was being cared for by others. The point, he says, is the House bill is designed to eliminate loopholes. Whenever that happens, there are people who say how important THAT loophole is. He said,”it takes a principled conservative stand to say no, we’re not going to thread a lot of loop holes into the law”. The other issue for Goodney is, what she calls a misstatement, regarding those who own small businesses. While it appears that they’re getting a break, she explains there’s a difference between active and passive income. She said, ‘so it is really only people that are investing that get the reduced rate. That’s not at all beneficial to my clients because all my clientele are working in their businesses”. Basically, she says if you are working at your business, taking income, rather than investing in it, this bill will not help you. If you’ve done both, she says, there’s a formula used that may reduce your tax bill. The thought is that the tax break will go back into the business by expansion or increased wages. She said, “tax cuts have never been shown to be long term beneficial to the economy”. She had a number of other concerns. A Senate version of the bill contains major differences — including a controversial repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that individuals purchase health insurance. The teleconference Goodney was involved in was with the activist organization Isaiah. Here is the link to the conference. To voice your opinion, call or email your representatives. I had a casual conversation (ie: I don’t know much about taxes at all!) with Bruce Morlan – here’s some of that conversation.
