A Dakota County Judge ruled in favor of the City of Northfield in the civil case with Waterford Township regarding their Orderly Annexation agreement from 1980. Judge Perkkio handed down her decision on Monday in favor of Northfield dismissing the lawsuit with prejudice. Denying all motions. In 1981, the two entities signed an agreement that sought special legislation that they share “revenue” in perpetuity. Northfield would pay Waterford tax
reimbursement on the annexed land (formerly Sheldahl, now Multek) and legislators ratified it. After nearly 30 years of payments, in 2010 Northfield City Attorney, Chris Hood, told then Council that they no longer needed to pay Waterford. Waterford continued to bill Northfield. In 2014, then Mayor Dana Graham appointed Councilors Zweifel and David Ludescher to start working with Waterford to come to some form of agreement to end the dispute. In 2016, Administrator Martig and Graham were in negotiations, and were close to agreeing to pay Waterford a lump sum of $50,000 but at the last minute, according to Graham, a Waterford Supervisor would not agree. Waterford Township filed suit against Northfield in May of this year. KYMN spoke with Waterford Board Supervisor Chair, Larry Odegaard this morning. He said that they’re waiting to confer with their attorney, Mike Couri, before making any decision on appeal. In the meantime, Mayor Pownell said this morning that the City has not yet been officially informed, however, the ruling was signed on Monday. She said she, “look forward to how we can work together with Waterford as we move forward… I really value our friends and neighbors that reside outside our City limits”. According to the ruling, Northfield is also entitled to reasonable costs and disbursements. Dakota County Court administration has yet to process the actual ruling but forwarded a copy of the judgment. Waterford Attorney Mike Couri has not returned a phone call. The order signed 12-17-18: Order for Judgment and Judgment
Sen. Draheim looks to “working together” in the 2019 legislative session
As the 2019 Legislative session, District 20 Senator Rich Draheim told KYMN that some of the first things they’ll be working on, “the 2 year biennium budget, tax conformity, permanent funding for roads and bridges or transportation”. Marijuana is a hot topic as well as gun control and distracted driving. After mid-term elections, the House became Democrat, making Minnesota the only “split government” state in the Country. The Senate is Republican. Draheim said there will likely be new authors for bills that they bring back that were vetoed last session by Governor Dayton. As Tim Walz comes in as Governor, Draheim commented, “I think Walz will be more engaged and probably be more hands on than what we had with Dayton and I’m looking foward to that”. He said, the reality is, they need to work together. He hopes to work with newly elected House Representative DFLer, Todd Lippert, who takes David Bly’s seat. Draheim said he’d like to work on solutions, including healthcare. While the debate continues as to WHO pays for healthcare, he’d like to work on lowering the cost overall. We’ll be hearing from Sen. Draheim on a regular basis once the session starts.
Nfld man pleads guilty to 2nd degree drug sale
A Northfield man pled guilty yesterday to 2nd degree drug sale. 21 year old Brandon Steven Underdahl set up drug buys in the Northfield Taco Bell parking lot with an undercover agent of the drug task force in February. Underdahl told the agent he could get nearly any kind of drug except heroin and crack. He sold the agent 3.5 grams of meth and a little over 2 grams of marijuana. A pre-sentence investigation has been ordered and Underdahl’s sentencing is scheduled for February 19th.
