Yesterday, a Cannon City Township man convicted of an elaborate scheme in which he would sell stolen vehicles with repurposed
vehicle identification numbers was sentenced to 117 months in prison and ordered to pay $124,000 in restitution.
Paul Scott Seeman, 48, was convicted of 29 felonies on April 27th. That trial included 19 counts of possession of stolen property and one count of racketeering for running a business in which he purchased junk vehicles and used their vehicle ID numbers to replace those on stolen vehicles so they could be sold as his own.
Seeman was also sentenced yesterday for possessing a Haulmark trailer stolen from Montana. Though he was found guilty in March 2018, sentencing was delayed while Seeman turned to the Minnesota Court of Appeals and Supreme Court in an unsuccessful attempt to have the verdict overturned.
Judge Christine Long sentenced Seeman to 19 months in prison and ordered him to pay $2,052 in restitution for the theft of the trailer. Under Minnesota law that sentence must run concurrently with the main 117-month sentence.
Rice County Attorney John Fossum said that while he would have like to have seen a longer sentence, he was satisfied with the judge’s decision.
“This case has dragged on for a long time,” he said. “But 117 months is within the zone we thought we would end up at. Removing Paul Seeman from the community for nine and a half years is necessary to protect the public.”
Seeman still faces a felony fleeing police charge after reportedly trying to avoid arrest when he failed to appear for court in December. There is a felony assault trial pending in Steele County for allegedly head-butting a Steele County Free Fair board member in Owatonna in 2021 and a pending DWI charge arising from an arrest in Dakota County in 2020.
TIF District established for Heritage Lofts project
On Tuesday night the Northfield City Council voted to create a new Tax Increment Financing District for the Heritage Lofts
project. In doing so, it also acted to take a new approach with tax increment financing overall.
Heritage Lofts, which will be located behind the Target and Cub complex on the southeast corner of Heritage Drive and Jefferson Road, will be a 90-unit complex with one bedroom, two bedroom and three bedroom, as well as studio, apartments. The land and the development are owned by Nexus Outreach, designed by Kaas Wilson Architecture, and will be built by Anderson Construction.
Nate Carlson of the Economic Development Authority and Nick Anhut of the Ehlers Company, which provides financial counsel to the city, said the tax increment financing that the developers had applied for was appropriate. The estimate for the total cost of the development is $22 million, working out to about $245,000 per unit. The agreement would provide, in total, just over $2.4 million in aid for construction over 26 years.
Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, is a tool often used by municipalities to foster development within the city. It essentially captures the added property tax value created by the development and is refunded to the developer over a certain period of time, in this case, 26 years. In exchange, Nexus Outreach will agree to offer 18 of the units as affordable housing with rent based at 50% of the Area Median Income.
In order to offer the TIF, a city must establish a Master Development Area in which the TIF District must be located. Several weeks ago, the Council had discussed and agreed to expand the overall Master Development Agreement to match the Northfield City Borders. City Administrator Ben Martig said this will save a step for the council each time a TIF plan comes before them and will give the city flexibility in how some of those TIF dollars can be used.
“So, potentially, if there is excess – for example we’re retaining 10%of the Tax Increment Financing that is being proposed on this project – by broadening out the district to match the city boundaries, it would provide flexibility in the future that those captured TIF dollars could potentially be used on projects across town, where right now it’s really restricted in the downtown district.”
The establishment of the TIF District is not an agreement for the TIF itself. That discussion and potential vote is set for the next council meeting on June 7th.
Master Gardeners will be at the Northfield Public Library
The Northfield Public Library has announced that The Master Gardeners of Rice County will be available to answer questions and
give advice on the third Thursday of each month from 6-8pm, beginning today and running through October 13.
Master gardeners can provide answers to many common gardening questions and concerns including how to get rid of Japanese Beetles, what kind of diseases affect tomato plants, and how to identify spots on trees and shrubs.
Since 1977, the University of Minnesota Extension has administered the Master Gardener Program. Volunteers undergo a rigorous training program with a commitment to engage with communities throughout Minnesota by sharing their horticultural expertise.
There is no charge for a consultation and no signup will be needed.
Pickleball courts to undergo reconstruction
The City of Northfield has announced that the pickleball courts located in Riverside Park will close Monday and will
remain closed for approximately one month while they undergo re-construction.
Crews will be replacing the existing courts with new sub-base, pavements and surfacing. The work is expected to be completed and the courts back open by mid-June except for the final surface coating, which will be completed in the spring of 2023.
Rich larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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