On Tuesday night, the Northfield City Council approved Teresa Jensen as the Interim Community Development Director, she will step in for
the departing Community Development Director Mitzi Baker.
Jensen filled the dual roles of the city’s Director of Library Services and the Director of Information Technology for seven years, until retiring at the end of 2020. City Administrator Ben Martig said after Baker turned in her resignation, he started a list of people that might be able to step in to the considerably busy and complicated position of running the city’s Community Development Department, and Jensen’s name was the very first one he thought of.
The Community Development Department has a number of different facets. It houses the City Planning Department, and with no less than three major housing developments, and possibly more, expected to break ground this year, there is a considerable amount of work to do. The same is true of the inspections department, which also holds responsibility for residential rental licensing and enforcement. The Department is also taking on many of the responsibilities of the Downtown Development Corporation and its oversite of the Main Street America program. There are also responsibilities with both the Heritage and Preservation Commission and the Economic Development Authority.
Additionally, the department has recently hired one new full-time position and is working to fill another both of which were created in the 2022 budget. The Director will be instrumental in helping to detail the work responsibilities those positions will carry. Martig said working with and knowing the community are vital components of being the Director of Community Development. Jensen’s experience with the library and IT makes her a perfect fit for the interim role, and that is why she was his first phone call.
“Obviously that position, from the library standpoint, is very customer service driven. I think there are more than 24 full-time employees and some part-time employees that she supervised. She was known as being a very good manager. People liked working with her and they had a very positive team atmosphere. And then, on Information Technology, our staff working on our computer systems and networks, it crossed over to many departments. So, internally, we’re pretty familiar with Teresa. She brings positive energy to the table and I think she’ll fill the interim role well.”
Mayor Rhonda Pownell was also very clearly pleased to see Jensen back with the city and noted that her “creativity would yield great results.”
Director Baker’s last day with the city will be tomorrow. Jensen will assume the interim position on Tuesday.
District facing insurance premium hike
On Monday night, the Northfield Public School District Director of Finance Val Mertesdorf gave a presentation to the Scholl Board on two
sections of the budget showing both the health and the difficulties in the school district’s financial situation.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said Mertesdorf reported on two funds, the Debt Service Fund and the Internal Service Fund.
The Debt Service Fund is the fund the district uses to pay its bonding debts. Hillmann said this fund is highly regulated by the state of Minnesota. By law, the district is required to levy 105% of what it owes in bonding. The state then makes a calculation about how much excess money the district has in the fund, and whatever is left over is returned to the taxpayers. Hillmann said the fund is being administered just as it should be, and everything is in good form.
However, they are dealing some challenges with their employee health insurance, which is administered by the Internal Service Fund.
The Northfield School District runs a self-insured program for both health and dental that has been honored by the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs as an innovative local government program.
The number of claims from the health plan has risen significantly in recent years, and so after eight years of not having to make an increase to the health insurance premiums, they were faced with a 25% increase in January. Hillmann said the district was able to use some reserve dollars and money received through one of the federal government Covid relief funds to minimize the impact on employees this year. However so much of that money was in a one-time relief payment, that the district will now have to find ways to keep employees from being hit with a high premium increase in 2023.
“Our employees have been working very hard during the pandemic in different and more difficult circumstances than they have ever seen. We didn’t feel that was to them to bear the burden of that, so the district did step in using some of our strategic resources to buy down that premium increase for one year. And then we’re working on how to mitigate this this coming January.”
Meanwhile, he said, the district’s dental plan is in fine shape. There has not been an increase in that plan since 2006, and he does not see one coming one 2023.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann can be heard here
Rice County property tax statements are in the mail
Rice County property owners can expect to receive two statements in the mail in the coming days, and the county is offering help to ensure
that everyone understands what each document means, and where to go to find help and clarification.
The first is a Tax Statement, which shows the valuation of a property in 2021, the total tax owed in 2022, and a breakdown of how each taxing district, which in Northfield is the city, the school district, and the county, will receive those funds.
The second statement is a valuation notice. This document informs the property owner of the 2022 value of their property as determined by the Rice County Assessor. This is the amount that will be used to calculate the following year’s taxes for the property.
Should a property owner disagree with the assessment, the County stresses that a person should not wait to contact the Assessor’s Office, as there is a limited amount of time in which to challenge a property’s valuation.
Several meetings are scheduled for property owners to discuss their valuation with the County Assessor. The meeting for most county residents, with the exception of those who live in Wells and Forrest Townships, is set for Monday, April 11th from 10am to 6pm at the Rice County Government Services Building in Faribault.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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