There’s a snag in the renovation and expansion of the NAFRS fire facility. Northfield Administrator Ben Martig told Council this week that they got bids in for the fire facility and it was not good news. They hired a construction manager to put together bid packages. There are 23 packages, of that only 11 came back and only 5 of those had multiple bids. Additionally, if they were to accept those and get competitive bids on the other packages, “we’d basically be blowing our entire contingency because they were higher on those estimates than what we came in
at”. That means they don’t have a complete project at this time. As for WHY the bids came in as they did, it’s a “robust construction environment”. There’s also a worker shortage. The Facilities committee held a meeting this morning to look for options and a special Board meeting is scheduled for Monday at 4pm in the Police Station Training room. That meeting is open to the public. Martig said this item will also be on the Council agenda next Tuesday, if appropriate, they may hold a vote on it. This is a link to the Minutes of NAFRS committee meetings. UPDATE: The Facilities Committee voted to reject the bids and rebid the project with a General Contractor.
Legislator calls for more School Counselors
School safety/gun control is a priority in the legislature. District 20b representative David Bly said that, in schools, another issue is the reduced number of counselors. He said, “there are kids out there hurting or estranged or don’t feel connected to the community or the school that they’re in and those are the ones that we worry about”. Governor Dayton has proposed adding nearly $21 million in revenue to enhance mental health resources. Bly said, in particular, counselors at elementary schools role is quite different than it used to be. He said, “I think that counselors provide a more, almost like, what you might think a social worker would be doing, where they are looking for kids struggling emotionally or having difficulties “. Bly’s full interview is on kymn.net.
Local woman celebrates International Womens Day with flowers
A local woman is celebrating Internationals Womens Day today by delivering flowers to women in assisted living homes around Northfield including 50North, Three Links and also at the NRC. Judy Smith of Judy’s Floral Design explained that International Womens day is celebrated in many countries around the world and she’s like to see it recognized as a holiday. She said, “and showing honor and respect this is a way that we can do it and so we are hoping that other people will show respect for women today by doing something nice”. In addition to delivering free flowers to the assisted living homes, Judy and her team will be giving away a free flower to every woman of every age who stops by her store today!
