NAFRS likely to approve full-time Fire Chief position
The 2023 Northfield Area Fire and Rescue Service (NAFRS) budget awaits one last vote of approval from
the NAFRS board in October.
The three entities that are part of the joint powers agreement that formed NAFRS in 2014, The City of Northfield, The City of Dundas, and a board of seven surrounding townships have all approved the budget. NAFRS Interim Fire Chief Tom Nelson has been personally attending City Council meetings in Northfield and Dundas to explain the budget proposal and answer questions. He also recently met with the Northfield Fire Protection Area Board which has representatives from the seven townships served by NAFRS and received approval for the new budget from them as well.
NAFRS has been operating according to a two-track budget plan for the past year or so. The budget for year one since the retirement of Gerry Franek in January 2022 included a part-time chief position. Year two was envisioned as a larger budget to accommodate a full-time Fire Chief, a move Interim Fire Chief Tom Nelson argues is greatly needed.
The NAFRS Joint Powers Board is expected to approve the 2023 budget and in anticipation of that a full-time fire chief job description and salary range have been developed and are ready to be posted. The position will be posted internally and Interim Chief Tom Nelson is expected to apply for the full-time position if it’s approved by the board.
“Salary range is all set. The goal would be if in October it’s decided to go with a full-time chief they could hit the ground running and have a job description. There was board action many months ago that said that it would be an internal post, but there will be a full interview committee, a full hiring committee for any candidate that applies from inside.”
If the full-time chief budget proposal is approved in October, the full-time position would begin on January 18th, 2023.
Jeff Johnson’s full interview with NAFRS Interim Fire Chief Tom Nelson can be heard here.
School District to survey voters
The Northfield High School building has been the topic of conversation within the school district for the
past several months, and now the school board has decided to ask the public for its collective opinion.
Last spring the district convened a 40-person task force, asking them to evaluate the building itself and identify the updates and renovations they found to be necessary.
The task-force report came back with a tiered set of recommendations. All told, the total cost of the recommendations would be somewhere between $87 and $90 million. Any construction projects relative to the school would require a bonding referendum to be voted on by the voters in the district, and the board has found it difficult to agree on the best way to proceed.
Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said the decision has been made to find out from the people in the district what they want and what they expect from the high school.
Hillmann said the school has “good bones,” and the electrical system was updated a few years ago. Despite that stewardship, he said time has taken its toll on the facility.
“We’ve taken very good care of the high school, but it was the late 1960s when it was constructed with additions since then. There are parts of the building that certainly need a refresh; they need mechanical work, things like that. And then thinking about what is the kind of learning space that we want for our kids in the 21st century.”
The district has contracted with Morris Leatherman, a market research group in the Twin Cities, to conduct a “randomized, stratified sample survey” of about 400 voters. The survey will encompass 35-40 questions and will help the district better understand just what the appetite is within the school district to spend on the building.
A referendum will most likely be put to the voters after the information is collected and analyzed. Hillmann was very quick to say that the referendum that will be on the ballot in November is not about the high school itself, but about funding building maintenance and technology. The bigger question of what to do with the high school, he said, will come later.
Age-Friendly Northfield to offer digital literacy classes
Age-Friendly Northfield will be offering internet and device literacy courses aimed at older adults in the
community.
CC Linstroth, a member of the Age-Friendly Steering Committee, gave a mid-year report on the work of the organization at the City Council meeting on Tuesday night. One big area of interest to the organization is supporting older adults in understanding how to use internet-connected devices better.
Linstroth pointed out that before the pandemic there was a larger gap in older adults not having devices to begin with, but since so much of life moved online that’s less true and the issue instead is making sure everyone feels comfortable using their devices.
Not only did the pandemic push people online, but Northfield is also currently working with the internet service provider MetroNet to build out a “fiber network accessible to more than 85% of Northfield residents and businesses,” according to the Northfield city website.
Since most people have internet-connected devices and broadband will soon be more accessible than ever, Linstroth and Age-Friendly Northfield believe the next step is to provide education on how best to use internet-connected devices efficiently and safely.
Classes would focus on practical skills like managing files, using browsers better, making sense of social media platforms, connecting to Zoom and other video conferencing apps, managing banking apps, and the increasingly important issue of how to protect personal data online.
For Linstroth, helping older community members navigate the internet comfortably is an equity issue. She argues as online skills become increasingly important in society, it’s important to close digital divides.
“Everybody is working on DEI, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Everybody’s trying to figure out how to move forward. Technical skills are one of the ways. If we can decrease the digital divides out there; we’re now putting in the internet, people are getting access to devices, but now what do they do with those devices? That’s the next big question.”
To provide these digital literacy classes, Age-Friendly Northfield will collaborate with community partners like the Northfield Public Library and Northfield schools.
To find out more about the work of Age-Friendly Northfield, visit agefriendlynorthfield.com.
Jeff Johnson’s full interview with CC Linstroth of Age-Friendly Northfield can be heard here.
Cait Kelley is the KYMN News Editor. Contact her at cait@kymnradio.net.
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