By Teri Knight, News Director
The Northfield City Council votes unanimously to mandate masks inside buildings within the city. Administrator Martig explained that means in facilities and buildings where the “public is provided services”. As for enforcement, it’s basically a trespass order and would be handled the same way as a parking ticket is. Deputy Chief Mark Elliott explained, “our goal is always compliance not enforcement. And a lot of times we’re able to handle that just, whether it’s a traffic contact or even on trespass, when we get there a lot of times it’s just a dispute over a rule at a business and they’ve been asked to leave. And a lot of times, just showing up we can explain that to the person and then they comply”. If they push it, then an Officer would
ask them to leave, if they don’t they would be issued a citation. Inside the Ordinance, churches were exempt. C. Nakasian moved the motion with the addition to include Houses of Worship. C. Zweifel read the St. Cloud Ordinance, “places of worship you’re not required to wear the face covering when seated if they can maintain a distance of at least 6 ft from other households. They are required to wear the face coverings when walking to or from their seat or when walking through the public areas such as lobbies or restrooms”. There was plenty of discussion and concern between councilors. Mayor Pownell said last night that this also helps the economy by being able to keep businesses open. She hopes this will become a statewide Ordinance. Pownell and Martig were in studio this morning. That interview is HERE. There are exceptions for those with medical reasons not to wear a mask. At their last meeting they approved facial coverings inside all city-owned facilities, which starts today. Governor Walz is expected to make an announcement at 2 this afternoon regarding a statewide mask mandate. KYMN will be airing that live.
Nfld Chief says being an SRO was a “great privilege”
In high school, Northfield Police Chief, Monte Nelson, took one of those tests that are supposed to reveal what your vocation should be, “my top two were dentist, forest ranger, followed by airline pilot”. That was 1983. Luckily for us, he chose law enforcement. He really wanted to work with kids and he had that chance as the Northfield School Resource Officer. He created many relationships, “they’re still my kids. They’re the kids I made connections with and some of them joined the military, some went off to school, some came back here and now I have the joy of, I might have hired Mr. Severson” to paint his home. The current Administrative Assistant was a student when he was the SRO. He called it a great privilege, saying, “kids are out of high school, maybe they make a bad choice, they get in trouble, and it’s their School Resource Officer, who’s now working the street and is able to be there and sometimes help them out. they’re in trouble, they have a problem and they will seek out that Officer. And you can’t just replace those relationships “. The role of a Police Officer has evolved significantly over the decades between technology such as body cameras and training, in particular with mental health situations and implicit bias. Listen to Nelson’s full interview is HERE. The public is invited to a reception for Chief Nelson on July 31st at Sechler Park beginning at 2pm.
NAFRS does the shuffle to fill retired firefighter positions
There’s been a lot of shuffling around the Northfield Fire Hall these days as firefighters with over 40 years move on. First Asst. Chief Jeff Mahacek retired after 20 years in the position, Chief Gerry Franek explained that they promoted the 2nd Asst. Chief, Tom Nelson to that position, which then led to replacing the 2nd Assistant. They chose First Capt. Jesse Faust, which led to filling HIS position which is now filled by Sean Simonson. And a new position was created, which was filled by former Rescue Squad Captain Andrew Tussing, so now NAFRS is looking to replace HIS position. The fire department now has a number of younger firefighters including six new hires within the last year. Franek and NAFRS Chair Elizabeth Hasse were in studio, that interview is posted HERE.
