On Tuesday night the Northfield City Council passed a budget and levy for 2022 that included an 11.6% increase in city property taxes. While
that is the largest property tax increase in recent memory, City Administrator Ben Martig and Mayor Rhonda Pownell said that it was the result of a six-month process by the city staff and the council making a deep analysis of where the city is lagging and what the city needs.
Martig said the increase is driven by personnel changes and needs. The budget adds six new full-time positions to city staff and converts two part-time positions to full time. Martig said there had been talk of gradually phasing the positions in over time, but in the end, there is simply too much work to be done and the needs are too great.
Mayor Pownell pointed out that the budget brings the staffing numbers back to the same number of staff employed by the city in 2002. Over the last twenty years, significant cuts were made, and some of the annual levies were kept artificially low. The decision for this budget year was to do the responsible thing for the city and bring the numbers back to necessary levels.
Additionally, she said, everything the budget adds, aligns with the city’s strategic plan.
“Were connecting the strategic plan that the council passed unanimously that our community members are really holding [us accountable to.] They want a council that is going to keep their word and move [the priorities in that plan] forward.”
The mayor said putting a double-digit tax increase in place was a difficult decision, but in the end, the budget did pass unanimously, because it was the right thing to do for the City of Northfield.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Mayor Rhonda Pownell and City Administrator Ben Martig can be heard here
NH+C works with state to offer Monoclonal Antibody treatment for Covid-19
Northfield Hospital and Clinics announced yesterday that it is now providing monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID-19, in coordination with the Minnesota Department of Health. The treatment, which was famously administered to former President Donald Trump when he contracted Covid-19 last year, is given through injections or infusion to help patients who have tested positive, and who are at high risk for needing hospital care.
Monoclonal antibody treatment, or mAb, is different from a COVID-19 vaccine. A vaccine triggers the body’s natural immune response but can take weeks to develop enough antibodies to prevent infection. This treatment accelerates the body’s own protective mechanisms by introducing lab-grown antibodies.
Covid patients cannot schedule the treatment directly with a hospital or clinic. In Minnesota, all mAb treatment is currently coordinated through the state health department. Patients register on the MDH website, and eligible patients are contacted to schedule treatment.
The treatment must be given during the first ten days of symptoms.
While mAb is both fast and highly effective, Dr. Jennifer Fischer, the Medical Director of the NH+C Emergency Medical Services, said it is not a substitute for vaccination.
“Vaccination is still the most important thing people can do to reduce their risk of COVID-19 infection,” she said. “But once a person with significant risk factors has a positive COVID-19 test result, monoclonal antibody treatment can make an enormous difference in reducing the severity of illness or eliminating the need for hospital care.”
For more information, visit northfieldhospital.org.
KYMN looks to the future with video production
On Tuesday night KYMN took the first step into video broadcasting and created an exciting new facet in the way the station is able to present
a live broadcast.
With Jimmy LaRue and AJ Reisetter on the call, and many KYMN staffers working behind the scenes, KYMN presented a video broadcast of the Northfield boys hockey team’s 5-0 win over Red Wing. Fans were able to tune in on the KYMN website and watch the game on their computers and mobile devices.
KYMN station manager and owner Jeff Johnson said that video production is something that has been discussed in the KYMN offices for some time. There has been a desire to take this step, but the challenges have been too great. With questions of how to staff a broadcast, and the high cost of the technology necessary to present something that meets acceptable standards, there has been a problem with feasibility, he said. Until now.
“[The cost] has kind of leveled off in recent years, and…the market has created some solutions that we didn’t have a couple of years ago. So now is the time to leap. We bought some video equipment and such, and we had our first video streaming [broadcast] of a game, and everything went very well.”
Lance Reisetter, who has been the point man for video productions said the plan moving forward is to match video with the radio broadcasts. But that could change quickly, due to the ease of use in the technology.
“The fact that we can sit in the ice arena and do this by simply plugging into electrical outlets is amazing,” he said.
In the coming months, the station will add substantially to the broadcast schedule. The technology the station is using allows for the broadcast of multiple events simultaneously, and the plan is to take advantage of that capability.
“There are still a few bugs,’ said Johnson, “but we’ll have them worked out by the end of the winter sports season.”
Reisetter said this move is a necessary one for both KYMN and the communities it serves.
“High School sports is so important, especially to smaller towns like Northfield and Randolph, and even Farmington. KYMN has been broadcasting local sport for decades, and it’s vital that we keep up with the times.”
Video of the Northfield Red Wing hockey game can be found here.
The next video broadcast will be the Northfield wrestling meet tomorrow night against Rochester Mayo. The broadcast will begin at 7:00, on kymnradio.net.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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