By Rich Larson, News Director
The Northfield City Council met last night, with a relatively light agenda. A motion for a Public Hearing on street improvement 
projects, particularly in the Mayflower Hill area was approved. A request by the city to consolidate two part-time positions in the Building Inspections Division of the Community Development Department was met with overall approval and, in fact, some enthusiasm from the council. By combining a part-time Building Permit position with a Code Enforcement position, the hope is the issuance of building permits, which has stagnated in recent months, will pick up. Approval for the new position could be on the consent agenda of the next council meeting on February 2.
City Administrator Ben Martig gave an update on the Strategic Plan for the third and fourth quarters of 2020. Among the highlights in his roundup, Martig said that the city is progressing in its goals to establish more affordable housing units in the area. He said that the city is also close to establishing a franchise agreement with MetroNet, the company that acquired Jaguar Communications over the summer. Martig said that the company wants to expand the accessibility of fiber-optic cable to homes in Northfield, something that would help quite a few families who have school children in distance learning programs at the moment. He also said the transit hub being developed near the Northfield Depot site has received state bonding funds. And in the interest of developing further racial equity within the community the city is monitoring the current percentage of public staff made up of people of color. He said currently, 3.7% of the city staff are people of color, while the Northfield police department is at 8%.
The Strategic Plan expired at the end of 2020, and in the coming weeks, the City Council will begin the process of developing the next 3 year plan. Martig said the council could expect one or two “intense” work sessions in March to produce, detail and finalize that plan.
Chapp discusses Post-Trump politics
Today is, of course, Inauguration Day. Joe Biden was sworn in this morning as the 46th President of the United States, and St. Olaf College Political Science professor Christopher Chapp said the new president has a laundry list of things to do. And many of them will be done by executive order almost right away.
“In terms of things he can do on his own, right away in the first couple of days, there’s been reporting about a mask mandate on federal property, he’ll continue some policies from the Trump administration including the eviction moratorium and the pause on federal student loan. There are other things he will sign that will really reverse course. For example, he’s going to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, he’ll end the so-called Muslim Ban, which is a travel restriction on countries like Syria that Trump put in place in 2017 that was controversial at the time, repealing the transgender military ban and rejoining the World health Organization.”
Chapp said that the new administration will have to work with Congress, and find some allies in the Republican Party, in order to pass the proposed $1.9 Trillion Covid-19 Relief Package, and the Path-to-Citizenship Immigration Bill that will shortly be introduced. Chapp said passing these two bills will serve as a litmus test for the new administration’s effectiveness and the unity within the Democratic Party.
As for the Republicans, Chapp said there are some very deep divides within the party. He said there are a number of Republicans in Congress, singling out Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who have embraced the traditional values of the party like fiscal conservativism and a strong foreign policy stance on countries like Russia. But he said the Trump era has seen rise of a new type of conservative within the party.
“There’s clearly a group of Trump loyalists who are concerned about other issues, and don’t take those conventional policy positions. I think it needs to be said that, when we look at things like the capitol insurrection, there was a great deal of white supremacy involved in the rhetoric surrounding that. These are the debates that, I think, Liz Cheney doesn’t want to have. But that movement within the Republican Party needs to be addressed.”
Professor Chapp said that the drama within the Republican Party will most likely be played out over the next two or three years, as Congressional incumbents face primary challenges, and the party seeks to regain Congressional power in the midterm elections. More than likely, he said, it will be the major Republican donors who will decide the party’s eventual direction.
Professor Chapp’s full conversation with Jeff Johnson can be found here.
Chamber of Commerce banquet goes virtual
And the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce has announced that their annual awards banquet will be a virtual affair and has invited all members of the Northfield Community, both members and non-members of the Chamber, to attend.
The Cost for the event, which will be held at 8pm on January 28th, is either $20 or $40. At the $20 level, attendees can watch the presentation as the Chamber honors Capital Construction as Business of the Year, Joan Spaulding of the Hideaway Coffeehouse and Wine Bar as Business Person of the Year and Chris Lambert of Higher Standards as Chamber Ambassador of the Year. The Chamber will also honor outgoing board members and lay out the strategic plan for the coming year. At the $40 level, attendees will also enjoy a charcuterie plate prepared by The Hideaway, desert provided by Cake Walk and a cocktail provided by the Northfield Municipal Liquor Store. The deadline for food reservations is Monday at 4pm. For more information, visit northfieldchamber.com.
