By Teri Knight, News Director
Through a pandemic, Northfield Schools Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann was given a near perfect review from the School Board at their meeting in July. He said, “I’m very humbled to have this job in this place. It is really a privilege”. He said there are a lot of great leaders in the District and they have an excellent School board, “who understands governance and they understand their role as a governance body. They empower me and they hold me accountable”. While his job this year is incredibly challenging, some have even said the worst, Hillmann says, “is it challenging? Are there problems? Absolutely, but we have a chance to try to help shape the future of not only our school system but our community
every day. We’ve talked a number of times about how we have to work together as a community to serve our students”. Due to Covid-19, Hillmann’s salary is frozen this year at nearly $177,000. His full interview is HERE.
Teppen updates Dundas news
Dundas City Administrator Jenelle Teppen gave an update on Dundas doings this week. The new Kwik Trip has been open for a couple of weeks. They had a ribbon cutting ceremony last week. Teppen said they donated $1,000 to the City. Interim Police Chief Wade Murray accepted the donation on behalf of the department who will use the money to purchase new AEDs for their squad cars. As for the new City Hall, the furniture arrived and has been installed. They’ll shut down operations on Sept. 3rd and 4th to move and install all their computers. Opening will be September 8th in their new building. Teppen added that they’ve continued their routine maintenance on the streets, widened Schilling Dr. in anticipation of the Kwik Trip. The infrastructure continues to be installed at Bridgewater Heights to accommodate new single family homes are being built. Other projects include regrading the ice rink in that area. Her interview is HERE.
St. Olaf speaker series brings in Andrew Yang
St. Olaf College is bringing back their Speaker series this Fall, this one is entitled “The Presidential Election and a Nation in Crisis – Polarization, Pandemic and Prejudice”. Dr. Ed Santurri is the Morrison Family Director of the Institute for Freedom and Community, who is sponsoring the event. He talked with KYMN’s Jeff Johnson last week. The series, which will be all online, begins on September 1st. The first guest will be former Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Santurri said, “he’s now a regular commentator on CNN, he’s in ongoing conversation with the Biden campaign about policy matters”. Yang is a proponent of universal basic income, “he has many other very interesting and innovative ideas that he’s talked about during the campaign and he wrote about in his 2018 book, long title, The War on Normal People, the Truth about America’s Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income is Our Future”. Santurri said they’ll discuss all those ideas and Yang’s call for understanding on all sides including, “he said the Democrats need to do some real soul searching and ask themselves how they might have failed, how Democrats might have failed to meet the rightful needs of a portion of the electorate that supported Trump in 2016 and continues to support him today”. The talk begins at 7pm on September 1st. The public is invited to join them at go.stolaf.edu/yang. Santurri’s full interview is HERE.
