New Rice County Sheriff Jesse Thomas has been in his position for three weeks now. Former Sheriff Troy Dunn retired on November 12,
leaving a year left on his term, and Thomas was appointed Sheriff by the Rice County Board of Commissioners to fill out that year.
Sheriff Thomas said that most of what he has been doing since taking the helm is focusing on the tasks in front of him. “We’re just trying to get some traction,” he said,” and making sure things are going in the right direction.”
His first order of business was filling out the leadership team. Thomas had been Dunn’s Chief Deputy, so he had to fill the space he had vacated, and that job has gone to Joe Yetzer. Chief Deputy Yetzer is a longtime member of the Sheriff’s Department, most recently serving as a Lieutenant overseeing the patrol division of the department.
Moving up to fill Yetzer’s role is Administrative Sergeant Paul LaRoche. Laroche has been with the Sheriff’s Department since 2008. The newly minted lieutenant is now the former Commander of the Cannon River Drug & Violent Offender Task Force.
Thomas said they have two deputies who are in field training. When they have finished, he said, the sheriff’s department will be fully staffed. The two deputies were selected out of a field of twenty applicants during a hiring process earlier this year. While they are worthy of the job ahead of them, and excellent additions to the Sheriff’s department, Thomas said it’s somewhat alarming that the pool from which they were taken was not bigger.
“We’ve also seen a shortage of people who are interested in going into law enforcement. This last hiring process, we only had twenty people apply for two spots, which is better than what I’ve heard from other bordering counties. But when I first started back in 1996, I applied for a job up in the Metro, and there were 450 applicants for one spot.”
Thomas said as he settles into his new position there will be many tasks at hand, not the least of which will be construction of the new County Jail and Public Safety Center. But for now, he said, the important thing is to simply ensure a seamless transition and keep county law enforcement running smoothly.
“Right now,” he said, “we just need to make sure that everything that needs to get done, gets done.”
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Rice County Sheriff Jesse Thomas can be heard here
City looking to take NDDC position into city staff to advocate for downtown
As the City of Northfield works to expand it commercial and industrial tax base, City Administrator Ben Martig pointed out that the best way
to ensure economic growth is to take care of the businesses that are already in place by giving them a good foundation upon which to work and creating a welcoming atmosphere to attract more commerce.
For more than two decades, the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation has worked to supplement, and sometimes take the lead, on the city’s efforts to keep Downtown Northfield healthy and vital. It has been a partnership that has worked extremely well when the NDDC has been able to maintain its leadership, but that has been a challenge from time-to-time, as the NDDC Executive Director position has only allowed for twenty hours a week. The NDDC has in fact been without an ED since July, and the city is now trying to take steps to fortify that role, attract a good pool of candidates, and retain the person who eventually takes the position for an extended period of time.
The plan is to create a new position within the city’s Community Development Department that would serve as a city planner focused on the downtown area. The city would absorb the duties of the NDDC executive director and combine it with other responsibilities in order to both lighten the workload on an overworked city planning department, and create a stable resource focused on Northfield’s highest profile area.
Mayor Rhonda Pownell said the NDDC has been able to attract good quality people, but this new position within the city will offer resources the NDDC did not have before.
“They’ve only been able to offer really a half-time position. And at only twenty hours a week, you’re just getting started. We are really focused on growing that, and you that more so when you have a staff person located right within city hall, coordinating right there with the [other members of] city staff.”
The new position is one of the half-dozen full-time staff additions proposed in the 2022 budget. Both Mayor Pownell and City Administrator Ben Martig are hopeful that the City Council will see and understand the need for a position such as this when they vote on the final budget at their next regular meeting on Tuesday night.
Northfield Swedish Club readies Lucia Fest
The Northfield Swedish Club will hold its 46th Annual Lucia Fest at St. John’s Lutheran Church on Friday December 10th.
Those with Swedish ancestry, or anyone else interested in Swedish customs, are invited to attend the traditional event celebrating St. Lucia The festival, a centuries old tradition in Europe and other parts of the world was at one point held on the winter solstice. In Scandinavian countries, where there is little daylight on the solstice, the day has become a festival of light. Traditionally a girl or young woman leads a procession wearing a crown of candles and singing the traditional St. Lucia song.
It is said that celebrating a Lucia Festival with enthusiasm and joy will supply a person with enough light to make it through the long winter days that follow.
This year, Northfield High School senior Ariana Vermilyea will lead the procession of attendants and star boys. Afterward, Lucia and the attendants will serve cookies and coffee to all, followed by live music and the singing of Swedish carols.
In year’s past Lucia Fest has been accompanied by a potluck dinner. This year, however, there will be no potluck, presumably in the interest of public health.
The event is open to anyone wishing to go. Those attending are asked to bring two-dozen cookies to share. Coffee and water will be provided. Masks will be required. It is a free event, but donations will be encouraged to cover expenses.
The event will begin at 6:30pm.
Rich Larson is KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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