Representative Todd Lippert said, like most people, he was extremely disappointed and frustrated when time ran out on the
regular legislative session last week without the bills dealing with the record $9.3 billion budget surplus being voted on.
Lippert said he was especially frustrated because by and large agreements had been reached on every major section of the spending framework laid out by the legislative leadership. A $4 billion tax relief bill was in place, as was an agreement for a $1.4 billion bonding bill. Lippert said the Environmental Conference Committee he sat on got their agreement done. And he said a late agreement was reached on the education bill as well that would have addressed, among other things, the Special Education Cross Subsidy, and could possibly have alleviated many of the budget issues the Northfield Public School District is facing. In fact, the only remaining bill to be worked out was for Health & Human Services, and Lippert said his understanding is that agreement was quite close.
Unfortunately, he said, he believes members of the Republican controlled Senate that did not want to see any deal made, and because of that everything failed. Just as many Republicans pointed fingers at House Democrats and Governor Walz for not negotiating in a timely manner, there were many times Lippert said Democrats were left waiting for a Republican offer or counteroffer while the clock was ticking.
Lippert said, because so many of the agreements have already been reached, he has hope that the governor will call a special session. He said it will take getting the governor into a room with Democratic Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman and Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller to work out the details, because there is no point in calling a session if every detail has not been fixed ahead of time. Too much energy went into this, he said, and there were a few toes stepped on in the process, so a special session would have to be very short.
“We’ve all been a little short on sleep, and tempers have been high. So, I think we need a little time to take a breath [before we] go back at it. Democrats are ready to come to the table. We need Senate Republicans to come to the table. I think everything would need to be agreed to [first], and then this is something we would do in a day.”
Lippert said he has heard rumblings of a mid-June timeframe for any sort of special session.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Representative Todd Lippert can be heard here.
Career Opportunity Day ‘inspires’ students
The 2021-22 Northfield School Year is winding down. Graduation ceremonies are set for Wednesday for the Area Learning Center
and Sunday for Northfield High School, with the under classes finishing up a week later.
Northfield Superintendent of schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said it has been rewarding to see many of the springtime and end-of-the-year events return from a Covid induced Hiatus. He said Prom was very successful. There was a Student Data Summit that brought students from the Northfield School District together with Faribault, Tri-City United and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, as a part of the state’s Achievement and Integration program, to discuss attendance and grades in the context of the Achievement Gap. Hillmann said those student leaders will now take the ideas from that conversation and try to apply them in their own district to help increase opportunities for traditionally marginalized student groups.
And he gave special recognition to the Career Exploration Day that was held at the Middle School on May 17. The job fair style event is designed to help students start thinking about the possibilities for their post high school careers. Students from the middle and high schools, the Area Learning Center, and Arcadia Charter School had opportunity to see and understand a variety of technical careers by talking to the people who do those jobs.
Hillmann said more than 38 companies including electricians, mechanics, manufacturers, engineers, even first responders and members of the law enforcement community were all on hand to help students see what some of their future possibilities could look like. Many students were even able to interview for summer and post-graduation jobs during the event.
Hillmann said he enjoyed watching the students listen to people who are truly happy with and proud of the work they do.
“It is so fun to watch these kids engage with people who love their work. And so, what I think it does is it gives them a positive future vision of what they could do with their work life. And they see all of these people who are passionate about what they do, and it’s inspiring to these students.”
The final day of school for all students is June 9th.
Northfield DMV asking people to complete a survey
The City of Northfield is conducting a survey to learn more about how well the Northfield Department of Motor Vehicles
office is serving the community.
Northfield City Finance Director Brenda Angelstad said the city is eager to hear from community members about their experiences in the office.
“Anyone who has visited the office before, perhaps for a driver’s license or a new license plate,” she said, “is invited to complete the survey which is available in both English and Spanish.”
Questions on the survey are related to customer service. The survey asks how recently the DMV was visited, and to rate the experience. Specifically, it asks about wait times, staff expertise, friendliness, and even how far a person had to travel to get to the office. The survey seeks to know what the reason for the visit was, and why that person chose the Northfield DMV office.
The survey takes five to ten minutes to complete and includes opportunities for citizens to share their comments about the services they received. For more information, or to take the survey, visit the Northfield City Website.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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