By Rich Larson, News Director
The Northfield City Council will meet on tomorrow night, and the chief item on the agenda will be the public hearing on the 
implementation of franchise fees to supplant the city’s current assessment program.
The city would essentially attach a monthly payment to every Xcel Energy bill in the City of Northfield as a means to fund road construction and redevelopment and the city’s Climate Action Plan.
Currently property owners who directly benefit from a street project are assessed 25-50% of the project cost. Those assessments run about $6800 on average but can be substantially higher.
The monthly fees attached to the utility bill would run as little as $5.50 for residential bills and as much as $2,879.00 on large industrial customers.
The point of the public hearing is to gather input from the general public. As the council is still meeting in a virtual environment and not in person, the city has made several options available in order to receive that input.
- The eComment button on the City Council page in the City’s website is available to make comments. To find that page, click HERE.
- Emails may be sent to City Finance Director Brenda Angelsted and City Clerk Deb Little. They must be received no later than 4PM Tuesday.
- Letters may be sent to City Clerk Deb Little at City Hall. They must be received no later than tomorrow.
- The public may also attend in person via electronic means by either calling in or by logging in from a computer, a tablet or a smartphone. Those wishing to make comments directly to the council during the meeting are asked to email Angelsted and copy Little no later than 4PM tomorrow so participation arrangements can be made.
To visit the City’s page regarding franchise fees, click HERE.
Big Highway 19 project in 2025
Rice County Commissioner Galen Malecha said that there are some highway construction projects on the horizon, and one in particular that should Northfielders be aware of.
Malecha said the state is eyeing a complete mill & overlay project of Highway 19 from Northfield to New Prague in 2025. Notably that
project would also include safety improvements. Chief among those improvements would be the east side on and off ramps with I-35. Malecha said the current plans call for a significant change in that area, including a six-legged roundabout that actually could begin construction as soon as 2023. The roundabout would allow for entrance and exit to and from the interstate as well as facilitating a safer intersection with the frontage road on the east side of the interstate. Malecha said that the safety improvements in that area are necessary ones. “Highway 19 is getting to be a very dangerous road. As the area continues to grow, there will be more trucks and more cars on that roadway.”
Malecha said the improvements will help traffic to flow better and improve the overall safety of the area.
And while there is still talk about expanding highway 19 to four lanes, the State has not yet made funds available for that purpose.
New exhibit at Fifty North gallery
And Fifty North will open a new exhibit in its art gallery next week.
The Time After Time exhibit is a collaboration with the Used-A-Bit Shop and will include original and representative 
artwork that has been donated to the store over the years.
According to the Fifty North newsletter, the exhibit will offer paintings from twelve different decades. Most of the collection is original artwork created by local artists from Northfield and the surrounding area that captures events, buildings and landscapes that may seem familiar to longtime Northfielders.
Fifty North Program Coordinator Patti Ciernia said the art came from a trove of works that the Used-A-Bit store has amassed over the years but was never made available until now.
“They have a room that is loaded with original works of art that have never been displayed before,” she said. “Some of them are pretty valuable, and they’re being curated by local art historians to determine the pricing. We’re going to some really interesting works of art that are on display for the first time.”
The exhibit opens to the public next Monday, the 16th. The works will be available for purchase. Proceeds from the sale will go to benefit the Fifty North Art Studio.
