By Rich Larson, News Director
The City of Northfield is moving through a transitional phase with regards to funding road construction projects. In December, the City Council passed
an ordinance replacing special assessments on a neighborhood or area that would benefit from road improvement, replacing that system with franchise fees that will be added to every Xcel Energy bill in the City of Northfield. However, Xcel will not be collecting those fees until March, and even then, Xcel will remand those payments to the City of Northfield on a quarterly basis at best. Therefore, the city has had to call for a public hearing for the issuing on just over $4 million dollars in bonds to pay for the projects in the interim.
There was some question about the details of this plan during the City Council meeting on Tuesday night, with Councilors Ness and Nakasian questioning how the franchise fee money, once collected, would be applied in regard to the bonding.
City Administrator Ben Martig said yesterday that this bonding request is a function of the switch between assessments and Franchise Fees.
“Last night, what we did was, the financing is changing mid-stream on this project. So, we had already gone through all of the design approvals and things and now we’re really heading into the financing stage. This project is estimated at just over $3.8 million, and we have to round up a little bit. But we have to have a hearing related to that in order to do the financing in this new way that we do it. So instead of Assessment Hearings we have a Capital Improvement Hearing for the general public to make them aware of that. The call for the hearing was [last] night. We’ll be holding the hearing on February 16th. The next council meeting [on February 2] will be approval on final specifications for the project. So, basically this is just kind of a new process that we’re changing mid-stream really in how we’re doing these things.”
City engineer Dave Bennett said there would be a detailed funding schedule presented before the public hearing on the 16th.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Administrator Ben Martig can be heard here.
‘Northfield Shares an Evening of Entertainment’ set for Saturday
And Northfield Shares, the area foundation dedicated to fostering philanthropy and volunteerism in the Northfield area, is preparing to present Northfield Shares an Evening of Entertainment on Saturday night at 7pm. Like every other non-profit organization in Northfield, the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the foundation’s ability to hold fundraising events in 2020. Members of the Northfield shares board decided that they should hold an event that would be akin to an old-fashioned telethon and it should be in January, when people are more apt to stay inside on a Saturday night.
The show will feature a wide variety of performers all with a connection to Northfield. Some are current residents, some were born and raised in Northfield and have moved on, and others came through St. Olaf or Carleton College.
Northfield musician and educator, as well as the director of Northfield High School’s Rock & Roll Revival, Ray Coudret was tapped to help recruit some of the performers. He said that he and the other organizers were focused on diversity and representing Northfield. Coudret said that most of the people they asked agreed to be a part of the show, but he regrets the lack of Latino participation. He said several Latino artists and entertainers were approached for the event, but nothing could be worked out due to scheduling conflicts
Among the performers on the bill are singer-songwriter Sam Ryden, jazz pianist Laura Caviani, artist and comedian Mary Guttfliesch, who is better known nationally as YouTube personality Mary Doodles, comic actor Ben Wang, and the Northfield Youth Choirs.
Northfield Shares an Evening of Entertainment is Saturday night at 7pm. This is a free event. Attendees can register to watch at northfieldshares.org.
