Beginning today, in an effort to raise awareness of speeding, distracted driving and impaired driving, the Rice
County Sheriff’s Department and the Northfield Police Department will join with six other law enforcement agencies along Highway 3 for a program called Operation Safe Driver Week, to remind motorists to drive safely.
The last several years, has seen a dramatic rise in traffic fatalities. Already this year, 170 people have lost their lives on Minnesota roads. According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, there were 461 traffic fatalities statewide in 2021, compared to 369 in 2020.
The goal of the operation is education through high-visibility enforcement in order to reduce traffic deaths, crashes and motorist conflicts. Motorists who see officers conducting a traffic stop are asked to give them room to work by moving over and slowing down.
This year’s Operation Safe Driver Week will run through next Saturday.
City adds Assistant City Planner for a variety of duties
Last year, when the Northfield City Council expanded the budget to add the equivalent of seven full time positions to
various city departments, they were very purposeful in their decision-making process. Each new position was very clearly outlined and filled an identified need within the city.
The Community Development Department added two new positions, one of which was to both help with the overwhelmed City Planning Department and to take over he Directorship of the Main Street Program, a responsibility previously handled by the Executive Director of the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation. As that position had gone vacant the city made the decisions to absorb those responsibilities and put a city employee in place to handle the role.
Revee Needham is the person who has stepped into that position. An Elko New Market native and a product of the Lakeville School System, Needham comes to Northfield after earning her undergraduate degree from Colgate University in upstate New York, and then working in the City of Jordan’s Planning Department.
As an Assistant City Planner, Needham has a diverse set of duties. She has indeed taken over the duties as Director of Main Street programming in conjunction with the national Main Street America organization, which promotes both the vitality and the preservation of Downtown Northfield.
Those duties intersect with her position as the staff liaison to the Heritage and Preservation Committee. Needham said she has spent quite a bit of time learning about Northfield’s Downtown District, even taking advantage of the architectural walking tours offered by the Northfield Historical Foundation to deepen her understanding of the area.
And, as the job title suggests, she is working alongside city planer Mikayla Schmidt on some of the more day-to-day business in the City Planning office.
Needham has degrees in Environmental Studies and Geography. She said her work with the environment is perfectly in line with her work in city planning.
“I really think sustainability is important. With climate change, I guess my specific focus is how we can make cities in our communities more sustainable and resilient going forward into the future. And I thought planning would be a good sector to enter to work on that.”
City Administrator Ben Martig said Needham’s education path, she is also one year into a program at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs for a master’s degree in City Planning, mirror’s his own, and he is very pleased with the work she is doing and will continue to do for the City of Northfield.
Northfield Public Broadcasting team keeping very busy
And another position that was enhanced by the staff expansion vote last year was the role of the Northfield Public
Broadcasting Station Manager. Sam Temple’s job was made full-time in that expansion, and he said Northfield Public Broadcasting has benefitted greatly from having more resources with which to work.
Temple said between the work he and the city’s communications staff have been able to do since he became a full-time employee and the contributions made to Northfield Public Broadcasting by the public, they have been able to generate one new piece of content very nearly every day, and he is extremely proud of the things they are doing.
New on the NPB website right now, he said are Author Conversations from the Northfield Public Library with Jan Mitchell talking about her book Good News on the Environment, and Natalie Warren discussing her book Hudson Bay Bound. Through their work with the library, they have also posted a highlight reel of footage taken from Northfield’s Pride in the Park event.
Temple said NPB has also been working with Clean River Partners on a series of videos that teach people how to conserve water.
“Some are high level topics,” he said, “but others are more practical and talk about how to save money on your water bill.”
The most recent video, which completes the series is called “Saving Water and Saving Money Outdoors.”
He said another new video that has become very popular features Josh Ramaker discussing Road Safety with Bike Lanes, and specifically, what the markings in those bike lanes mean.
Temple said the station is also broadcasting St. Paul Saints games, with upcoming broadcasts on the 12th, the 14th and the 27th.
Another nice byproduct of the station’s expansion, he said, has been the opportunity to afford other people more opportunities.
“The Communications Department at the City of Northfield will sometimes have an internship, and we’re doing one this summer. Emma Conway has come on board, and she’s doing some really spectacular work. She’s stepped right in to help with editing, with creating graphics, with working on press releases. It’s an educational experience, and very hands on, so that’s been a lot of fun.”
Northfield Public Broadcasting can be found on Spectrum Channels 180 and 187, or through the City of Northfield Website, or on their YouTube channel which is best found by Googling Northfield Public Broadcasting.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Sam Temple of Northfield Public Broadcasting can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
