The Northfield School Board, each year in September, approves the maximum preliminary levy allowed by the MN Dept. of Education. Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann said they set it at 2.7{b5761be34e80a16b6d0e4dabc1869c131a263f96a745c82bebdd3b8a4330bfa9} over last year. That number can be lowered before the set the final levy in December. The Board also approved refinancing $7.7 million in bonds for the Middle School saving $178,000 in interest payments. The dollars go directly to pay back
the levy. Over the past decade, Hillmann says, they’ve saved taxpayers $5.6 million in interest by refinancing existing debt
Small cell wireless coming
A new law amending Minnesota’s Telecommunication Right-of-Way User Law, has created a separate permitting system for placement of small cell wireless facilities on City owned structures including street lights and utility poles. They can also place their own pole. The idea is to provide more powerful cell services. Administrator Ben Martig said the State sets the maximum height for installation. The City can set some restrictions in Historic and Residential areas. The height of the poles can be up to 50 ft. City Engineer, Dave Bennett told Northfield Council that if the city doesn’t pass some type of ordinance soon, State Statute will rule. They approved the First Reading of Repealing and Replacing that part of our code. The City does have some control over where they’re placed so they’re not side by side. Additionally, they can create conditional use permits in some areas. An attorney for Verizon told Council they want to build 6 installations in town. This item will come back to council next month as they decide parameters for a new code.
50 years never sounded so good!
KYMN – AM 1080 celebrates it’s 50th anniversary today. On September 27th, 1968, at 10am, the first voice on the air, was Wayne Eddy, the first song was Up Up and Away by the 5th Dimension. For the next 34 years Wayne served a number of roles including Manager, Part owner, then Owner. During that whole time he was the Morning Show Host. He sold the station in 2002 but was hired back to KYMN in 2006 by Jeff Johnson and “The Wayne Eddy Affair” was launched. A two hour show interviewing every kind of person in every kind of corner from Northfield and beyond. In 2007 he was inducted into the Pavek Museum Hall of Fame. Jeff Johnson, who began his radio career at KYMN in 1987, moved in and out of a variety of roles, including Sports Director. He left radio for a couple of years, coming back to man the Morning Show on KYMN in 2005. He bought the radio station in late 2008. Jeff launched the new FM 95.1 in 2016 and oversaw the rebranding of “The One” and our website. There have been a number of personalities through the years but three have remained for most of the time. Wayne, Jeff and Bob Matheson, who started his career at KYMN in 1982, left for a time in the 2000’s and was hired back by Jeff in 2011 to be our Weather Specialist. They, along with a host of longtime guests, were on Wayne’s show this morning. A special guest stopped by, this year’s Joseph Lee Heywood Award winner, Lois Stratmoen was listening at 10am on Sept. 27th, 1968 when she was a young mother of a 2 year old boy. She said this is the way she would get the local news, local weather and feel in touch with her new community. KYMN – A Friend You Can STILL Count On. [envira-gallery id=”71885″]
