The Rice County Canvassing Board has verified the results of the November 8th election as reported by county elections staff. 
At nearly 73%, the percentage of Rice County voters casting a ballot in last week’s election exceeded turnout for the 2018 midterms by .36 points. The turnout is well above the state’s total, which Secretary of State Steve Simon last week estimated to be nearly 61%.
In all, 28,557 votes were cast in Rice County, Property Tax and Elections Director Denise Anderson told the county board during the required certification of votes on Monday morning. Of those, 81% voted at the polls last week, and 19% submitted absentee ballots.
Only one race in the county – Rice County attorney – is close enough to warrant a recount. The losing candidate, incumbent John Fossum, has until 5pm Monday to request a recount, although indications are Fossum will accept the results. Candidates in city and school board races could also request a recount, which county staff would complete.
All records except for the abstracts, which is the term used for the vote summary, are kept for 22 months. Abstracts must be retained permanently.
School board approaching high school facility decision
Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said the Northfield School Board is moving closer to finding what he called a
“preferred pathway” toward making the improvements needed at the High School facility.
The topic has been at the forefront of much of the public conversation by district leadership since a taskforce was convened last spring to evaluate the high school and make recommendations to the school board. When the board members could not reach enough consensus to agree on a plan after receiving the recommendations, the decision was made to ask the taxpayers of the Northfield School District what they think.
“We want to know,” said Hillmann, “scientifically, what do the voters want?”
The survey showed that there is plenty of support to build a new high school in theory, but the amount voters are willing to pay in property tax increases, he said, does not quite match.
The district estimates a brand-new high school, or even one rebuilt around sections of the current building while others are demolished, would cost $120 million. However, the information in the survey showed that the district could expect support of about $77 million from the taxpayers.
Armed with that knowledge, the school district will now set about constructing a bond referendum that will seek the money necessary to improve the facility.
Hillmann presented the board with four options that range from one ballot question to a three-part ballot question segmenting the improvements.
There are several issues with the building. The HVAC system needs to be replaced, as do windows in many sections. There are upgrades needed in the academic sections of the facility that range from lighting to science labs and classrooms to technology. The athletic facilities need improvement as well, Hillmann said, and the survey found support for a new field house to be constructed. The possibility of an ice arena owned and operated by the school district is being considered as well.
Hillmann said the support the survey shows will not cover everything, but it does show that the community understands something needs to be done.
“The good news is that people understand the need for updates to the school. It isn’t that people don’t think that there needs to be updates to that building. There is a limitation of what the voter survey said that they’d be willing to spend, so we have to just work all those different pieces of the puzzle together to come up with the right solution.”
The board is expected to decide on the “path forward” at their final meeting of the year in December. A referendum on the bond could be held as soon as this spring.
Northfield Police prepared to oversee cannabinoid compliance
Ordinances regulating the sale of edible Cannabinoid products went into effect in Northfield on November 1st, and Northfield Chief of 
Police Mark Elliott said in the few weeks since then, things seem to be running smoothly.
The Minnesota state legislature legalized the sale of edible products containing hemp derived Delta-9 THC in the session earlier this year, but the newly legalized products were not very well regulated in the bill that made them legal, leaving municipalities to create their own rules on cannabinoid sales. The City Council debated the new laws over the summer, finally passing them in early October.
Elliott said there are currently three retailers who have paid the $1500 license fee to sell the products. The license fee is in place to cover the costs of enforcement and compliance. The Northfield Police Department has had to establish a compliance-check program, and there could be testing costs as well to verify the amount of THC in the products.
The ordinance states that retailers must follow the state law governing the amount of THC in each item, and the total amount of THC per package. Consumers must be over the age of 21 to buy the cannabinoids, and vendors must be over the age of 21 to sell them. There is no on-site consumption or sampling allowed, they must be sold from a fixed location, and may not be sold as a self-service product.
The packaging may not look like another product currently on the market, and – most importantly, Elliott said – they must not be marketed, or sold, to children.
“We want to regulate them because THC is an intoxicant and it’s really important that people are responsible but also, they want to keep it out of the hands of children. That’s what we heard from a lot of the council’s discussions; let’s make sure that adults can responsibly choose this product if they want to, but let’s make sure we’re keeping our children safe.”
The three retailers selling the products have been through training with the NPD Elliott said, and his department will be doing compliance checks, just as they do with any other establishment selling alcohol or cigarettes.
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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