By Teri Knight, News Director
Dundas has a lot going on. Administrator Jenelle Teppen shared that Kwik Trip will start putting utilities in the ground in March, as soon as they can break ground. There are a couple of development projects in discussion phases right now including at 115 Depot St. Teppen said, “there’s about a 20 acre parcel, they want to split off 2 acres to an existing old farm house, keep that, and then put the rest of the property into
some kind of development”. Teppen anticipates the 39 unit West Avenue apartment complex will come back to the council at their March 23rd meeting. Right now they’re talking about parking spaces and signage. At the March 9th meeting, Fenway Land Development will go before council with a concept plan for an additional phase in Bridgewater Heights. The area is identified, “for multi-family and they’ve got a concept for some villa type homes up there which would be slab-on-grade, two and or three car garages”. And City Hall work continues. Teppen’s full interview is HERE.
Age-Friendly Northfield and City partner up
Age-Friendly covers all ages and Northfield was one of the first cities in Minnesota to become an “Age-Friendly Community”. Administrator Martig explained there are eight domains, “related to community information, housing, health and wellness, transportation, social participation, job opportunities, volunteering, civic engagement and outdoor spaces and buildings”. Last week, councilors approved dollars to partner with Fifty North. Martig said, “a $25,000 service contract, matched by Fifty North to have an Outreach Coordinator to work on the implementation of that part of the plan”. Patty Ciernia is up and running on the information/communication piece. Martig added, “they actually just helped secure a grant where a local business ended up donating a trailer to house our red chairs that we bring out to events”. Those chairs offer seating for older adults at local events. Martig said this is a great partnership with Fifty North. The City is looking into hosting a statewide Age Friendly conference as Governor Walz considers the matter for the State.
Local bus driver chosen to speak with Gov. Walz on Bus Driver Appreciation Day
According to the Minnesota Association of Pupil Transportation, more than 760,000 students are transported to and from school each day across the State. Today is Bus Driver Appreciation Day. Governor Walz is using the day to bring attention to the statewide driver shortage. The theme for this year’s event is “Driven to serve: One stop at a time,” as they promote the benefits of being a driver and raise awareness of the shortage. A local driver, Dave Hellstern of Held Bus in the Kenyon-Wannamingo District, was selected to speak at the Governor’s press conference this morning. Hellstern retired from the medical field in 2018 and was looking for something to do. He enjoys the camaraderie of being on a team. He added that “a genuine greeting every morning and afternoon may be the only positive support that child receives all day” and he provides that. He’s also living out his gratefulness for his bus driver all those many years ago. John Held, owner of Held Bus, commented, “I’ve been getting some great people to come on board these last few years, I’m pretty lucky”. Held says the driver shortage is largely due to the difficulty in getting a commercial license with a bus endorsement. There are efforts to lobby legislature to relieve some of those issues but in the meantime, they keep adding restrictions. School Bus Driver Appreciation Day proclamation Commercial Drivers License Manual
