The City of Northfield set their street assessments for the $4.6 million downtown improvements. Administrator Ben Martig said that 10{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} of the project will be paid for by those assessments. He added that they’re “setting the maximum” so as they have the hearings with the public, those rates could go down. Assessments range from $41 per linear foot for a mill and overlay for residential properties to $158 for reconstruction for commercial properties. Washington Street from 2nd to Woodley will be a
mill and overlay and Division between 6th and 8th is reconstruction along with 7th street between Water and Washington. Click HERE for further details. Engineering Manager, Sean Simonson said they proposed the public hearing for April 17th and would be mailing out information along with HRA assistance available. It passed unanimously. The HRA has dollars set aside to help qualified residents with their assessment charge. Council members expressed, again, a desire to further discuss how assessments are calculated.
Debate over Charter vs Statutory City
The Northfield Charter Commission will meet tonight at 6 o’clock. On the agenda is a rescheduled report from member Jon Denison regarding a switch from Charter City to Statutory City. While the Charter Commission has been largely ignored for years, there was a renewal of energy in 2015 as some citizens, including Chair Tim Clack, tried to engage the City Council and offer a Charter commission opinion on some Land Development Code changes. Northfield became a Charter city in 1910, basically, the rules must be stricter than State rules. While some, including Mayor Pownell have called the Charter, the City’s constitution, Clack and the opinion were not welcomed. He attempted a couple more times to communicate with Council but gave up in 2016 and resigned. Former Councilor David Ludescher then took up the charge and the Commission attempted to call on the Mayor to study city operations and report to the Council once during their term, a directive in the Charter that’s been disputed by Council. (That item is also on tonight’s agenda). Ludescher became displeased with the handling of appointments to the Charter and he left. Lance Heisler is now the Chair. To change the status of the City would take a majority of the Charter commission to present it to Council, who would then have to approve it unanimously. To completely dismantle the Charter would take additional work for the Council. The meeting will be held in the Council Chambers. It is open to the public. There’s also dispute as to how much authority the Charter actually has.
Nfld Hist. Society store remodel and two new exciting/powerful exhibits
The Northfield Historical Society’s museum store is back open after some remodeling! Executive Director Cathy Osterman said it was a process with removing some of the old cabinetry that was no longer useful and changing the flow of the store. The floors have been redone, the cashier station moved and a lovely little reading nook for customers. She encourages the community to check it out! They’ll be ordering new Spring products too! There’s a new marketing Malt-O-Meal exhibit, it’s all about the advertising. Osterman said it’s a fascinating look at how the commercials were made and the story boards, adding, “visually it’s really neat to look at”. Stephanie Hess put together the exhibit that includes some television commercials. In the continuing WWI exhibit, this, called “Stories and Sacrifice”, is the first-hand accounts of what local soldiers went through. She said they have lots of copies of letters, newspaper accounts of first-hand stories by soldiers. There are some powerful stories. Next week, during Spring Break, the museum is offering guided tours between 1 and 4:30pm.
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