By Rich Larson, News Director
The Northfield School board will hold their final meeting of 2020 tonight, and the first items on the agenda will be the Truth in Taxation Presentation & Public Hearing and the vote on the 2021 property tax levy. 
At just over $20.3 million dollars, the levy is scheduled to increase by 1.64%.
District Director of Finance Val Mertesdorf will present a review of the levy, a revised budget for 2021 and an updated financial forecast. The public will be invited to speak on the levy after the presentation.
Originally, the Public Hearing had been posted as an in-person event. Because of the Covid-19 restrictions, however, the capacity for attendance is very limited. The meeting itself will be conducted via Zoom, but there will be opportunity for people to make public comment and address the board at the High School Media Center. The board members themselves will not be there, but as Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann explained, because the meeting was posted this way, they are proceeding with an in-person component.
“The key thing is the meeting will be via Zoom. Because this is a public hearing, we will allow public comment specifically on the Truth in Taxation presentation via Zoom, but because, way back when we had to publish the tax statements when and where the meeting would be, we will have a couple of people in the high school media center. So, if people do want to come in person, we have very limited capacity, I think it has to be less that ten people, we have some space. I would strongly encourage, however, people to attend this meeting via Zoom.”
The public will also have the opportunity to address the meeting electronically. Those wishing to attend the meeting electronically can click on the link HERE.
The school board meeting will begin at 7:00.
Underdahl warns holidays, winter could be difficult
The Food & Drug Administration approved the first vaccine for emergency use against Covid-19 in the United States on Friday. Even with vaccines on the way, however, medical authorities are reminding people to be cautious about gathering with friends or loved ones over the coming holiday season.
Northfield Hospital & Clinics President & CEO Steve Underdahl said on Friday that the best advice is to celebrate only with the people who live in your household.
Calling it the least fun part of his job right now, Underdahl said that Thanksgiving was tough, but Christmas and New Year’s tug at the heartstrings more than any other time of year. But he said people should not be getting on an airplane right now, nor should they even be traveling out of state. He is recommending that people don’t shouldn’t “share air” indoors with anyone who doesn’t already live their home.
“This couldn’t be a worse time for Christmas,” he said. “All of us are going to be inclined to rationalize our decisions.”
“People have been talking to me in the last couple of weeks saying, ‘You know, we’ve been thinking about Christmas,’ and then whatever comes after that comma is largely a sort of rationalized version of why [they are] going to try to do something with Christmas and then hold [their] breath that it’s okay. I’m really worried that…even with the vaccine on the way this next 90 days or so could really be just extraordinarily deadly.”
Putting it differently, Underdahl said the degree to which we can do this even reasonably well will determine how many people die from Covid-19 between Christmas and Easter.
Hideaway offering traditional free Christmas meal again, with Covid twist
And the Hideaway Coffee House and Wine Bar will once again offer a free Christmas dinner to anybody who would like one, but like everything else in
the year 2020, they will be handling things differently.
Joan Spaulding, the co-owner of the Hideaway with her husband Jim, said that they will continue the tradition of offering a free holiday meal to one and all, but this year they will be offering the food to go. They are asking people to call them from their cars upon arrival, and the food will be delivered to them curbside. Or, Spaulding said, those without a cell phone can come in and pick the food up.
Spaulding said that The Hideaway has generally served about 200 people, but this year dining in their restaurant is a practical impossibility. Even if in-person dining is allowed by December 25th, the restrictions on capacity will still be at a much lower percentage than what would be necessary to accommodate everyone.
Usually, The Hideaway has around 8 people who volunteer to help serve, but this year it will only be members of the Spaulding family to ensure that no volunteers are unnecessarily exposed. Joan also said that she has no idea how much food they expect to serve.
“What we’ve found over the years is people don’t necessarily come because the food is free. The majority of people come because they are alone.”
he said not being able to join with other people might lessen the demand, but for the people who do come in to pick up some food, she said, “We’ll make it fun for them.”
Also, she said, that in the past they have offered people a choice of turkey or ham, but this year, everyone is getting both.
The Hideaway will serve food on Christmas Day from 1-5 pm. The phone number is (507) 664-0400. This is the 8th consecutive year the Spauldings have offered free Christmas dinner at the Hideaway.
