Rice County is now accepting proposals from developers interested in building up to six four-bedroom homes to be designated as affordable
housing.
On Tuesday the County Board of Commissioners authorized the use of about an acre-and-a-half just north of the planned Public Safety Center for the project.
When county officials announced they’d purchased 109 acres off of Highway 3 for the Safety Center in late 2021, they suggested part of the land could be used for housing. While several new apartment buildings have sprung up in Northfield and Faribault in the last couple of years, both cities have had trouble attracting owner-occupied residential development. Developers are generally seeing a higher profit in the metro, making few willing to invest in Rice County where housing prices are typically lower.
Housing Director Joy Watson suggested townhomes will likely be proposed in the county’s application for state financing assistance, both she and Commissioner Steve Underdahl said they would like single-family homes as part of the development.
Once the HRA selects a developer, Director Watson will work with human services organization Three Rivers Community Action in Zumbrota to put together a proposal to request funding from the state’s housing finance agency. A decision from the agency won’t come until December.
The finished homes will be sold to individuals making up to 115% of the median Rice County income, or about $100,000 per year for a family of four. County Administrator Sara Folsted said covenants will ensure the homes remain affordable for the average Rice County worker even when they’re sold.
Smith says generic drug law will make a ‘big difference’
US Senator Tina Smith said the first bill she introduced after arriving in the Senate four-and-a-half years ago is expected to become law this summer, and it is a bill that she believes will help most Minnesotans.
The Expanding Access to Low Cost Generic Drugs Act is a bill that Smith, a Democrat, created with Republican Senator Mike Braun of Indiana aimed at ending the practice of “parking.”
“The way it works is a name brand big drug company has market exclusivity for a number of years,” which she said, is the way it should be. “But what happens, then, is these drug companies pay generic companies not to bring their generic drugs to market.
“It’s ridiculous, it’s anti-competitive, and it hurts consumers.”
Senator Smith said the practice has been in place for more than twenty years, and it is so widespread that it applies to any drug or any type of medicine.
Smith’s bill will change the incentive structure for generic companies and encourage them to rush their products to market and give them 180-day market exclusivity under certain circumstances, thereby stopping the bottleneck of generic drugs that are waiting to be made available.
She said generic drugs are an excellent way to drive down the cost of prescription drugs. They can have the same formulation, the same effectiveness and the same safety as a name brand drug but can also be 80% less expensive.
“They are a very good way of reducing prices, and this just sort of drives it home. In 2020 92% of generic drug prescriptions cost $20 or less. That’s very different from what name brand drugs cost, so it makes a big difference.”
She said because this is such a strong bill with such solid bi-partisan support, it has been rolled into larger “must-pass” legislation that will almost assuredly be sent to President Biden’s desk and signed by the end of the summer. Once passed, the FDA will write the rules for enforcement of the law, and consumers could start feeling its results by this time next year.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with US Senator Tina Smith can be heard here
‘Coffee with a Cop’ to be a monthly event
The Northfield Police Department is well known for taking a Community Policing approach to their work. Police Chief Mark Elliott has said
that being a police officer in Northfield is not for everyone, and those looking for fast paced activity and frequent homicide investigations won’t be a good fit for this department. However, those looking to engage with the community and get to know people will enjoy working here. A new program the department has just initiated is a perfect example of that philosophy.
Elliott said at least once a month, a member of the Northfield Police Department will make themself available by taking a seat at a local establishment, be it a coffee house, or a brewery, or even just a table in one of the Division Street parklets and inviting the community to come by and talk.
“We know people have questions,” Elliott said. “I get it all the time when I’m over at Kwik Trip or grabbing lunch somewhere. So, we just thought, ‘Why not make some structured time to have a conversation with anyone who wants to talk?’”
He said similar programs with other police departments across the country have yielded excellent results, and he himself has been involved in programs like this with other departments where he has worked. In fact, Elliott said, he wanted to put the program in place sooner, but the Covid-19 pandemic kept that from happening.
The idea is for people to have questions answered that they may have been reluctant to make a phone call to the police station about because it’s not an emergency situation, or just to talk one-on-one with a police officer. Elliott said, he even understands that sometimes the people wanting to talk might have a grievance to air.
“They’re just kind of expressing what they’re frustrated about. Sometimes it’s things we can fix. Sometimes it’s national policy agendas that we can’t fix here, but at the same time what we can do is have some conversation and say ‘Yeah, we see that as a big issue, but here’s what our local response is, or here’s what happens locally.’”
Chief Elliott said the events will change from location to location, but they will work through social media and local event calendars to let the public know when and where they are happening.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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