UPDATE: The driver of the pickup truck was Andrew Pany (age 58) of rural New Prague. As of this update, Pany is still in a metro hospital being treated for a serious leg injury, among other injuries. The driver of the School bus was Jerry Iverson (age 73) of
Prior Lake. All parties are cooperating with the investigation.
A crash involving a school bus sent one to the hospital. Around 3 yesterday afternoon, Rice County Sheriff’s deputies and Lonsdale Police and Fire were called to 70th Street West and Jackson Avenue in Wheatland Township. An eastbound pickup truck and a southbound school bus with several students on board collided. The 58 year old male driver of the pickup truck was transported to the hospital by North
ambulance. Two students were checked out by Medics for minor injuries at the scene and were picked up by their parents. The other students were placed onto another bus. The crash is still being investigated by the Sheriff’s Office & State Patrol. No further information was given.
Another step toward a development agreement
The Northfield Council, this week, discussed the development agreement between the City of Northfield and Yanik Companies, who are proposing a Senior Housing project across from the Northfield Hospital. Administrator Ben Martig said a lot of the issues were site related. Things such as, “how do we deal with the access road, how do we deal with infrastructure, the sewer and the water; because Yanik is going to need to tap into those, Yanik will need to use that access road that’s currently just set up for the hospital”. Other questions include a park dedication fee and/or cash in lieu of (an item the Northfield Hospital did not do), and SAC and WAC fees. Community Development Director Chris Heineman said, “those are required of any project that provides the access fees, the fund balance for maintaining our public infrastructure the water tower, the sewer plant, those types of things”. Those fees are estimated at over $57,000. Staff will be discussing this further with the developer. Attorney Chris Hood said the shared agreements between NH&C and Yanik would be, “essentially a license agreement between Northfield Hospital and Clinics and the Developer in some cases, depending on which utility you’re referring to, that would probably be the sewer and stormwater would be under that license agreement. And then the easement agreement would be between the City of Northfield and St. Olaf College”. There were no public comments and no further questions from councilors. This item comes back to council for a vote Feb. 13th.
Nfld. HRC has full board, a budget and an agenda
Northfield’s Human Rights Commission has seen a marked increase in interest from the community over the last year. For years they hovered at half the allowable membership, they now have a full board of nine. Vice Chair Justin London presented to the council. He discussed their desire to “professionalize” the role of the Board. He said previously it was “sort of run as an amateur operation where we were self-funded and self-organized and were not, actually, following the rules. Now have a proper budget, we’re working with city staff to make sure we have all of the agendas and supporting documentation on the City website and that is a big help”. They’ve received an annual budget of $3,050. To their mission, “we sent materials around to boards and commissions encouraging them to increase the diversity of their representation and give them suggestions on how to do that”. They would also like to see more Spanish speaking people within the Police Force, School District administration and City administration. Northfield’s HRC has been asked to help the City of Faribault start their own commission.
