They hit the million dollar mark last night! The Northfield Hospital Auxiliary book fair, in it’s 57th year, hit a million dollars in sales about an hour and a half in to the first day of the 5 day event at the Northfield Arena. They needed just about $13,000 to make it happen. Applause rang out and volunteers pulled out balloons and “$1,000,000 Moment” signs. Dollars raised have been used to buy a multitude of things including a wheelchair accessible van for the long term care center last year and each year the auxiliary gives out 10 $1,000 scholarships to local students in health-related fields. It takes a small army of volunteers to sort 65,000
items donated by the community, in fact, about 500 of them. Books, CD’s, DVD’s and vinyl too, you’ll find it there. The sale runs through Saturday but the first night is always packed with book buyers from near and far.
Dundas Planning and Council actions
The Dundas Planning Commission met before the Council meeting to discuss further development of land at 399 Stafford Rd. N. City Administrator John McCarthy said, “basically the request is being made to the Council, Council will make the final decision on whether to approve adjustment of a lot line”. The property in question is on the south end of Stafford Rd next to America’s Mattress. There’s a paved area south of the store which the developer would like to build a commercial/retail building. McCarthy said, “there are some conditions that may be attached to it but it sounds like their recommendation to the council is that this be done”. The Dundas Council passed resolutions to move forward with the fire facility including NAFRS lease payments to the City of Northfield, as the issuer of the bonds and owner of the building, for $20,000 a year. Northfield Council will award the bid from The Joseph Company next Tuesday and then construction will begin as soon as possible. The bid was $3.4 million, with soft costs, the City is bonding for $4.2 million. Fire Chief Franek noted that the plan is to build the addition first. He said, “from the start that whole area is going to be torn up and won’t be accessible so we want to complete the back portion of it so that we can move our trucks around the back so they can work on the front side”. Franek thanked the JPA Board for all the work they’ve done to get this done.
Grass fire season and who pays
Unattended debris, often mistakenly believed to be extinguished, continues to be the leading cause of wildfires, says the MN Dept. of Nat. Resources. It’s grass fire season, believe it or not. NAFRS Fire Chief Gerry Franek explains the billing for grass fires, “that’s actually ran through the Northfield Rural Fire Association, so they take care of the billing process to the landowners. So if there’s a, if we happen to be there on a long term basis and they will bill the landowner for that and then also the insurance companies”. Burn permits are available through NAFRS, go to their website nafrs.org.
E. Cannon trail still closed
The E. Cannon River Trail remains closed from the Arena to Dundas due to overflow of the Cannon. Streets and Parks Manager, TJ Heinricy, it’s not flooding, it’s simply overflow and will likely be that way for about a week.
