By Rich Larson, News Director
Yesterday, Governor Tim Walz made a major announcement regarding the Covid-19 protocols that have been in place since March of last year.
The governor set a timeline that will lead to the end of all Covid-19 restrictions. Beginning at noon today there will no longer capacity limitations on large outdoor venues, the capacity limitations for indoor venues have been greatly relaxed, and the mandatory 11pm closing time for all bars and restaurants will no longer be in place. All capacity limitations will be removed by the end of the month, and Walz said the state mask mandate will end either by July 1 or when 70% of the state population has been vaccinated, whichever comes first.
The Minnesota Department of Public health said that currently 2.6 million Minnesotans have been vaccinated and the state is on track to hit the 70% goal by the end of June.
Representative Todd Lippert issued a statement that encouraged all Minnesotans to remain vigilant against the virus.
“A safe and healthy summer, doing the things we love with the people we care about is within our grasp, but it remains crucial that we continue to follow the public health guidelines that have made Minnesota a leader in combating this pandemic.”
Representative Lippert said right now, the best thing Minnesotans can do as they look for a return to normalcy is, to get vaccinated and encourage family and friends to do the same thing.
Body cameras ‘great asset’ for Rice County Sheriff’s Department
Last fall the Rice County Board of Commissioners approved a body worn camera program for the Rice County Sheriff’s Department. After taking delivery of the equipment earlier this year and some initial startup training, the program is now well under way. Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn said so far, the program has been a great asset.
Dunn said that there are around fifty uniformed patrol and correctional officers wearing body cameras right now. The cameras have helped to mitigate any issues that would arise in differing points of view on how a law enforcement action was handled and make it very easy to invalidate wrongful complaints. Above all, he said, body cameras capture the full unvarnished truth of law enforcement interactions.
“It brings accountability to the citizens; it brings accountability to the deputies and officers. And especially these days when people say, ‘What is law enforcement doing wrong?’ I think this just proves that the majority of our law enforcement [officials] are doing things the right way.”
Sheriff Dunn said there is so much data to handle, and the county has become so reliant on that data so quickly, that they are now in the process of hiring someone in a part time position to manage the body camera footage. The Sheriff said the need for this position is strong, and he hopes that person will be in place next month.
Last month, the Northfield City Council approved a body camera program for the Northfield Police Department. Chief Mark Elliott has said he expects the program to be up and running by mid-summer.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Sheriff Troy Dunn can be heard here
Council votes to reconstruct Oddfellows restrooms
During their meeting on Tuesday night, the city council took up the mundane but much needed topic of refurbishing the restroom facilities at
Oddfellows Park.
The shelter at Oddfellows Park is one of the most used picnic areas in the city, but the bathrooms are in disrepair. In fact, the words used to describe the facilities during the meeting were “dark,” “grimy,” and Councilor Brad Ness even called them “scary.”
Last year, during the budgeting process the council appropriated $100,000 to repair and refurbish the facilities. A new design was brought to the council that will essentially take the facility down to the bare bones and rebuild it with four separate unisex stalls that will be cleaner, more comfortable, add natural light to the area, and most importantly, bring it up to code with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Such a project, however, will cost more than twice the amount that was appropriated. Director of City Engineering Sean Simonson offered two separate funding models. One would delay the resurfacing of a municipal recreation area, while the other would draw from the city’s capital reserves. After showing the public both options, City Administrator Ben Martig said the response they received was both passionate and a little surprising.
“Originally, we were going to delay the Pickle Ball Project down off of Riverside Park, but we certainly heard feedback from people who wanted to see that continue. And we’d been exploring some cash funds that we had that had been restricted, and we were able to bring an alternative option for the council to consider, and they did end up approving that.”
In order to authorize the bid, the council had to take up a budget amendment, approval of which takes five “Yes” votes. The amendment passed unanimously.
