by Rich Larson
Brett Reese, the president of Rebound Partners, said plans are moving forward as they prepare to take down what is left of the historic Archer House
Hotel.
After a devastating fire that left the building completely unusable last November, the remains of the Archer House was condemned earlier this spring and declared a total loss by Rebound’s insurance company. Reese said there are several steps that must be taken before the site can be cleared. He said that an analysis of the structural integrity of the building is done, along with an environmental assessment of the area. Both of those reports have been submitted to the city, which must give its approval before the building can be demolished.
Rebound is taking quotes right now from demolition companies. He said they are talking with six different firms, and each of the proposals will be carefully evaluated.
The big question is, of course, what doe Rebound plan to do with the site. Reese was somewhat vague in his answer, but it is clear he has great expectations for what comes next.
“Up from the ashes. We hope to build something pretty cool, sort of classic, and historic. We’ll probably have more on this later, but it will probably be lodging, some apartments, an eating and drinking, maybe something on the rooftop, hopefully a spa or something like that, some retail things. We’re excited about the possibilities.”
The demolition of the Archer House is expected to begin in August and last into September.
Lack of Public Defenders causing problems in county court
Throughout the pandemic, the Rice County court system built up a backlog of 250 cases that needed a fair trial. When jury trials resumed in early May, the County Attorney’s office began to work through that backlog, but now in the month of July, jury trials have shut down again. This time not because of the Covid-19 virus, but because there are virtually no Public Defenders available in Rice County at the moment.
Rice County Attorney John Fossum said two of the full-time public defenders and a third part-time defender who handled the majority of the cases in Rice County, have all left for other jobs in the past month. This caused problems because each of their cases had to be re-assigned to a new attorney and those attorneys then must learn about each case, which takes time, so the cases are then delayed.
Fossum said the larger problem, however, has been the fact that until last week, that office didn’t have a budget, and could not hire people to replace those who left. The Public Defender’s office is a state-run program, so their budget is determined every two years by the State Legislature. This year, the legislature could not come to an agreement on the budget before the close of the regular session at the end of May, and even when brought back into special session the budget negotiations took over two-weeks and threatened to shut down the state on July 1st when the old budget expired. Fossum said having no budget left the Public Defender’s Office in limbo.
“So, when the state says, ‘We’re not approving this budget until the last minute,’ they can’t encumber money they don’t have, so quite understandably, they couldn’t hire people to replace the people who left in June, and slightly before that, because they weren’t convinced they were going to have a budget.”
With a new budget in place, the PD’s office can now begin the process of hiring new attorneys. That process can take some time, and when in place the new attorneys will have to get up to speed. It is unclear when jury trials will resume in Rice County.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Rice County Attorney John Fossum can be heard here
Plenty of activity at local school buildings
A month into the summer break, most people would assume that there probably isn’t much happening at the Northfield schools. But Northfield Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann said that would be a wrong assumption, and there is actually quite a bit of activity at the schools right now.
Hillmann said the district is just now finishing up the first session of the credit recovery program for students who fell behind in the last year and need some extra time to finish their work and keep up with their class. The summer programming that would normally have started shortly after the school year ended was delayed this year. Dr. Hillmann said after everything students, faculty and staff had to deal with during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was determined that they all needed a break. That programming will begin later this month and last for about four weeks.
Superintendent Hillmann also said that, while the major construction projects of the last couple years is behind them, there are still things that need to be done to maintain the school buildings. The High School restroom facilities are being remodeled so that they are ADA compliant. A science classroom in the high school is getting upgraded with new equipment. A few windows are being replaced at the middle school. And, Dr. Hillmann said, the district continues to take steps toward becoming a more climate friendly organization.
“Every year for the last several years we’ve continued to work on updating our lighting to LED. A lot of people probably don’t know that we have an in-house master electrician. His name is Duke Bjorklund, and he is an amazing, amazing guy. Every summer he does a lot of electrical work and continues to update our LED lighting.”
Hillmann also reminded everybody that there is a large variety of community education classes being offered this summer. Parents looking for something to keep their kids – or themselves – occupied will probably find something to their liking if they just go and look. For more information visit northfieldpublicschools.org/communityeducation
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield Superintendent Dr. Matt Hillmann can be heard here
Rich Larson is the News Director at KYMN. He can be reached at rich@kymnradio.net
