With the resignation of Councilor Suzie Nakasian, the City of Northfield is looking to fill the open Ward 1 seat on the council for the duration
of the term.
Applicants will be required to show that they are legally qualified for the appointment by meeting specific criteria. They must show that they live in Ward 1, that they are at least 21 years of age, that they are legally qualified to vote in Northfield, and that they can meet all criteria required of a candidate by law.
Applicants will be asked why they are interested in the appointment and what makes them a good candidate to sit on the City Council. They will have to be available for an interview on July 12th after 5pm and must be able to attend council meetings for the rest of 2022.
The appointee will be sworn in as a member of the council on July 19th, and City Administrator Ben Martig said, they will get to work immediately.
“They won’t have to jump in and run the meeting that night, but they will be appointed then. And that next week we have a pretty heavy budget work session that kicks off, so that will be one of the primary things the person will be working on in addition to other policy decisions along the way. But the budget is the biggest policy item in the back half of the year.”
The council reserves the right to request further information from applicants, to re-open the application process, and to extend the time for a decision.
Additional information and applications may be obtained in the Administration Office by clicking here to email City Clerk Lynette Peterson or she can be reached atat 507-645-3001.
Applications are also available at the Northfield Public Library.
Those interested in seeking the appointment should submit their application no later than 11am on Friday, July 8th. The term of the appointment will be for approximately six months, from July 19th through December 31st.
NAFRS board begins taxing district conversation
As the Northfield Area Fire and Rescue Service continues to evolve, so does its budget requirements. Increasing compensation needs,
catching up on mandatory training after the pandemic, and inflation are all factors in the fire department’s growing budget.
“It’s going up,” said Chief Tom Nelson.
Inflation has been a particularly difficult factor to manage for many first responders. The Rice County Sheriff’s Department reported that it used half of its fuel budget in the first quarter, and NAFRS is facing the same problem.
“We’re talking about things like fuel,” said Nelson. “And we’re talking about things like utilities for the building.”
Nelson said training is another major factor. During the pandemic, it became very difficult for the firefighters to receive the training that was necessary, if for no other reason than the people who run training programs were unable to come and work away from their homebase. Nelson said it is imperative that the necessary training be given to the NAFRS firefighters if for no other reason it is required by law, but also in their efforts to continually improve their ability to protect the area they serve.
One of the items in the budget that will continue to be an unknown for several more months, is the compensation package for the fire chief. As the board goes through its decision-making process to decide whether the chief position should be full time or part time, the budget committee is using a two track-budget. Glenn Castor, who is the NAFRS board treasurer said with a part-time chief the budget will be just over $1 million, and with a full-time chief it will be closer to $1.25 million.
The organization is considering forming a taxing district as well. A law was passed in Minnesota last year allowing fire protection services to levy taxes on their districts directly, rather than receive their funding through municipalities. Such a move would drastically alter and streamline NAFRS governance. Castor said, at least one member of the joint powers agreement has made the process a priority.
“We have a reasonably aggressive timeline for that committee to make some recommendations to the board. I know for the Rural Fire Protection District it is a significant issue, and they really want to encourage the board to move toward a taxing district. The two cities haven’t really made a statement on that yet, but I think they are in favor of it, depending on the details.”
Castor said the taxing district could be formed as early as mid-2023.
Age Friendly Northfield presents results of its survey
Age-Friendly Northfield has completed its in-home services and supports survey of Northfield residents over 50 and their caregivers. Almost
350 survey responses are being analyzed to determine what support services are most popular and how respondents find resources.
The survey was developed by Age-Friendly Northfield with the Southeastern Minnesota Area Agency on Aging and with the support of Carleton Assistant Professor of Statistics Andy Poppick and his students.
Age-Friendly Northfield aims to ensure that Northfield promotes independence and a high quality of life for older residents. Programs work to allow residents to stay in their own homes and communities even as they experience the economic and physical changes that come with aging.
The survey asked about several types of services: chores, homemaking, home modification, nutrition and meals, personal care and home health, respite care, support groups and healthy living, and transportation.
Nancy Just, Age-Friendly Northfield Secretary said, “We really wanted to understand what services people were using… and what our next work is going to be.”
The most popular services were found to be chores, homemaking, home modifications, and transportation.
Just said the survey found that transportation services were used to go to medical appointments and just get around town, but respondents said even greater access to transportation was needed.
“Our respondents said the service that they felt they needed most but was not available was transportation. I think it will be interesting because we got some data from the transportation question we had in our survey and we’re looking forward to having more conversations with the City of Northfield because there was a transportation survey that is in the process of being completed for all residents in Northfield.”
The survey also found that respondents most often found services on the Resources page on the FiftyNorth website. These resources were compiled by Age-Friendly Northfield and are available for everyone to access, not just FiftyNorth members.
The survey and a report about its results will be available on the website agefriendlynorthfield.com by the end of the summer.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Nancy Just of Age-Friendly Northfield can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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