At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the first reading of an amendment to the City Code that would allow chalking on sidewalks
passed 4-3 with Council Members Suzie Nakasian and Brad Ness and Mayor Rhonda Pownell dissenting.
The original authors of the ordinance amendment, Council Members Jessica Peterson-White and Clarice Grabau, are in favor of allowing chalking on all city sidewalks. Their amendment would allow all chalking regardless of content, with a few exceptions made for hate speech, profanity, and specific threats.
Peterson-White said,“The current situation does not make it possible for us to enforce ordinance in a content-neutral way. Right now, we only enforce the ordinance when someone objects to the chalking.” She also said, “My take is that this is the simplest solution, this is something we can all deal with as a community. It’s a very small cost in the interest of free speech, fairness, and neutrality.”
Council members also discussed allowing chalking on city sidewalks except in Northfield’s Historic Downtown District.
Mayor Rhonda Pownell raised concerns about allowing chalking. She said she has seen an increase in people pushing the limits of common decency. She added that groups could pre-chalk event locations like Central Park and the event organizers would be unable to remove the messages.
Pownell said, “We want everyone to feel welcome.”
Councilor Brad Ness said he worried that the ordinance change would increase calls to the police, but Councilor Jamie Reister said, “I have a hard time believing this will create a huge burden for the police department. It seems to me our current system would create more work for the police than this one.”
Council members Nakasian, Ness, and Mayor Pownell were against changing the ordinance to allow chalking at all, but as a second-choice option they favored protecting Northfield’s Historic District.
For Pownell and Ness, Bridge Square can be a particularly contentious location where they don’t want to encourage potential conflict.
Reister said, “I am bothered by the Historic District option. I would challenge anyone to go to a map and draw the Historic District border. It would be even more confusing for our staff and public servants to have to deal with that.”
The first reading of the proposed City Code change passed, but it will be discussed and voted on again at the next City Council meeting on June 21.
This story was written by KYMN News contributor Cait Kelley
Conditions for non-profits could get ‘scary’
With inflation at a 40 year high of 8%, continued covid related supply chain and labor issues, and now a major spike in the price
of oil, signs of an economic downturn are everywhere.
Inflation is playing havoc with all budgets, be they personal, corporate or municipal. Rice County Sheriff Jesse Thomas said his department budgeted $60,000 for fuel expenses this year and spent $31,000 of that budget in the first quarter alone. The labor shortage is hitting very close to home as well. The Quarterback Club, one of Northfield’s longest running and most well-established restaurants recently stopped serving breakfast because of a lack of workers.
Non-profit organizations feel the downturn as well. Scott Wopata, the Executive Director of Northfield’s Community Action Center, said things can become difficult from several sides.
The CAC’s mission is to serve the community through life-sustaining needs for those who are unable to make ends meet. Wopata said when the economy starts to slide the need for CAC’s services goes up.
“Families have less money for the things they need,” he said. “And as inflation rises what resources they do have don’t go as far.”
At the same time, inflation hits the CAC just the same way it hits everyone else. Their costs go up as well, so they’re resources don’t go as far either.
“We’re sourcing less food for the same money,” he said.
He also pointed out that CAC is a donation fueled organization, and less money comes in when people don’t have as much discretionary income.
Wopata said, all they can do is remind people that even though we all feel it, some have a more difficult time dealing with it.
“I’m not concerned about that today, but I have a growing concern about that tomorrow and in the weeks, months and years to come. How those things get in line and push non-profits in the wrong direction can be really scary. And so, we’re looking both at how CAC responded in the past, and what support is out there. But it’s always just making sure people are clear that these downturns, or these challenges, or inflation have an impact on everyone, but a more severe impact especially on our lower income families.”
Wopata said it is also important to remember the stabilizing nature of an organization like CAC. The services they provide help families on shaky ground. Stable families stabilize the community, which is good for the business community and local employers.
“We want a healthy, thriving Northfield,” he said. “CAC has a part to play in that.”
School winds down, projects ramp up
Today is the last day of the 2021-22 school year in the Northfield Public School District. As the students file out, and faculty and
staff ready for a short break, the people who manage and run the district facilities are ramping up for their maintenance projects.
Cole Nelson, the District Director of Buildings and grounds said that, while the projects aren’t quite as involved as some of the remodels have been in recent years, there are some projects that are necessary in order for the buildings to keep functioning properly.
For example, the Middle School needs a new roof. Built in 2003, the roof was heavily damaged and repaired after the severe hailstorm of 2006. Nelson said the original roof had a fifteen-year warranty, so it is time for a new one.
Another project will be a remodel of the office and the nurse’s suite at the High School. This is most likely the first of several upgrade projects the district will be performing on the school.
And Nelson said, maybe the most interesting project of the summer is a shed being built at the Area Learning Center that will incorporate students in the YouthBuild program.
“That’s a neat project, because it will engage the ALC students – they’ll be taking part in the construction of that garage – and that will then be a storage space for them for their continuing classes that they will have for woodworking and such.”
Nelson said there are several other smaller scale projects scheduled for the summer, like the resurfacing of the track at the Middle School. He expects everything to be done and ready when the next school year begins in September.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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