The deadline to file as a candidate for the Northfield School Board was on Tuesday.
There are six candidates to fill three seats on the board. They are current board members Jeff Quinnell and Tom Baraniak, and challengers Robert Coleman, Ricky Antonio Livingston, Ben Miller and Jenny Nelson.
A name not on the list of candidates is Julie Pritchard, who will apparently step down after serving on the board for twelve years, and for seven of those as the School Board Chair.
Pritchard chose to step down as Board Chair in January and was succeeded by Claudia Gonzalez George. Upon that occasion, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann praised Pritchard for her work on several levels, saying she is an exemplary student-focused leader, who is responsive to families and supportive of the district staff.
The candidates who receive the top three vote totals in the election this fall will become members of the board in January 2023. Election Day is Tuesday, November 8.
ARPA Funds to benefit several non-profits, HRA, Community Development, others
As the city moves through the annual budgeting process, decision time is at hand for several items. On Tuesday night, during the Northfield
City Council work session, the council gave initial approval to the allocation of the remaining funds received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, much of which will have direct effect on the property tax levy for 2023.
Northfield received $2, 266, 732 in total ARPA funds which were paid in two installments – one in the summer of 2021 and the second just in the past few months. The allocation of the first installment was approved in April and included payment for various Covid-19 mitigation programs, as well as security improvements to City Hall and funding for the full-time city Spanish translator for two years.
The allocation for the second installment includes several more line items. The city is contributing nearly $225,000 for the sewer and water connections for both the Hillcrest Village and Spring Creek II affordable housing projects, $150,000 to the Housing and Redevelopment Authority for rental and manufactured housing grants, just over $160,000 is going to the Community Action Center to help with the food shelf, rental assistance programs, and bi-lingual support in Northfield, and HCI is receiving $50,000 over two years to help fund the newly hired manufactured housing rehab coordinator.
Meanwhile $180,000 will go to cover contributions due to the Northfield Area Fire and Rescue service to cover repairs made to a fire engine and to replenish $100,000 in mandatory reserves. Another $200,000 will cover the costs to replace the city’s Showmobile with a new stage for city events.
City Administrator Ben Martig said the council’s initial agreement to the use of these funds will give the budgeting process much more clarity.
“So that’s a pretty big item. We’re going to redo some of our numbers now that we have clarity on how some of those [funds will be] used, which will really set us in good shape for the September 13th budget meeting. We’ll need to be setting preliminary levies at the end of September, and we hope that that is pretty close to what we think of final levy might be for this year.”
The official approval of the fund allocation is expected to come at the regular council meeting next week.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield City Administrator Ben Martig can be heard here
New mental health priorities for law enforcement officers will pay dividends
This summer has been a particularly difficult time for many in the Northfield Community. Just two weeks ago, 14-year-old Melanie Valencia
passed away after suffering catastrophic injuries after being struck by a car on her bicycle. The disappearance of Elle Ragen after her mother was found dead of suicide at the beginning of July continues to haunt the community. Even while most of us are enjoying something akin to a pandemic-free summer, there are still circumstances and events that can be hard to hear about and even harder to understand.
The effects of these, and other events, can also take a toll on first responders, emergency personnel, and those who have made a career in public safety. Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott has spoken on the priority he puts on mental health care for everyone in his department, and Deputy Chief of Police P.T. Haider echoed Chief Elliott’s thoughts.
“Things have happened this summer that are not ‘the norm,’” he said. “And it can be emotionally taxing on the department.”
Haider was candid in his comments, explaining that police officers see things every day that are very difficult for anyone to see even once, much less on a regular basis. Because of that, every sworn officer and every member of the sworn support staff in the Northfield Police Department goes through what they call a “Wellness Check-In.”
Haider said he believes it’s important for a police officer – who is generally someone with a strong personality that feels a need to convey a sense of strength – to have a conversation with someone brought in by the department with whom they do not have a personal connection. The benefits of those conversations, he said, pay dividends both in their professional lives, and in their personal lives.
“Because when we go home, we go home. That’s it. People go home. They take the uniform off and they go home to their children and their families, and they have to separate what happened at work from their home life. And sometimes it’s hard for people to do that. And in law enforcement in general – in Minnesota – the mental health aspect is now really getting focused on and looked at, as it should be. Because we want to make sure our officers are mentally well themselves. On a daily basis, well officers will take better care of people that they work with and serve.”
The same thing foes for the department support staff, as well. Haider said the staff sees the same reports every day and has the same daily conversations with officers about the things that happen, and it is every bit as important for the people in those roles to receive the same support that officers do.
Haider said in his early days as a police officer, these things were not addressed. But now that the attention is being put in the proper places, he believes it has made the Northfield Police Department an even more capable organization, which has made for an even safer community.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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