Dick’s Sanitation and the City of Northfield said that a letter many Northfielders received last week was sent to them by mistake. 
The garbage collection company recently mailed a letter to all Northfield residents stating they would be upgrading their computer system. The letter said it would be issuing new account numbers and registration instructions to view and pay bills online.
This letter was meant for commercial customers, however, who pay DSI directly. Northfield residents pay the city for garbage collection, and the city then pays DSI for the service.
A statement issued by the City of Northfield said residents should disregard the letter and it apologized for any confusion.
Council receives update on new housing development
Last week, during their work session, the Northfield City Council heard a presentation from Community Development Director Jake Reilly 
regarding the environmental assessment process for the proposed housing development that would be built in the far north section of Northfeld.
Terrace Companies, a Minnesota based land developer has announced its intention to create a housing development on 62 acres of land at the Northwest intersection of Cedar and North Avenues, east of the Hospital. According to Reilly, the development will include 53 detached villas, 26 single family units, 8 duplexes, 4 triplexes, one buildng that will house 63 units of senior co-op living and another space intended for an apartment building which will be further developed after Terrace Companies finds a partner for that project. Reilly also said space is being set aside for residential-serving commercial development as well. The development would also include a park and the necessary road infrastructure for the area as well.
Northfield, of course, is in great need of housing, and the council seemed to be very supportive of the project. Councilor Clarica Grabau noted that she and her family had lived in the area previously, and noted that the commercial space, assumedly for a grocery store, would be extremely beneficial, not just for the development, but for the neighborhoods east of Cedar Avenue as well. Mayor Pownell expressed her support for the development, but also noted that neither Cedar Avenue nor 330th Street on the west side of Cedar have curbs and gutters and asked for more conversation about roads and safe crossings in the area.
For now, the environmental assessment process requires that an Environmental Assessment Worksheet be filled out. City administrator Ben Martig said the information it provides will assist the council and other governing bodies on how to best proceed.
“It identifies things like infrastructure, needs and impact. Things like if there are wetlands, or any kind of historical artifacts. That’s all this is. It’s a comprehensive rule that review that happens prior to the permitting process, and it really helps inform the decision makers on the importance of identifying those types of issues.”
Reilly said the council is not being asked to take any action at this time. The development will be considered by the Planning Commission in December, and it will most likely come before the city council in mid-January.
The Economist spotlights Northfield’s labor troubles
Last week the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Mankato has the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 1.3%. That number, 
however, is likely qualified for cities of a certain population and larger, because Northfield’s unemployment rate currently sits at 1.2%, a number previously thought to be nearly impossible to reach.
The number has, in fact, gotten the attention of quite a few people. Last month, the state Department of Employment and Economic Development Director Steve Grove, a Northfield native, came to Northfield with his boss, Governor Tim Walz, to talk with business owners about the labor force as well as other issues. And now, the stately old British publication, the Economist, has noticed as well.
Last week the magazine, which first went to print in 1849, published an article entitled Why American Unemployment Needs to Rise, detailing the problems such a low rate can cause businesses. The article was centered around Northfeld.
At 2.1%, Minnesota is tied with Utah for the lowest unemployment rate in the country, and the Economist makes the case that such a low number is problematic for not just businesses, but for the community as a whole. Both the Northfield Retirement Community and Three Links Care Center, it said, have vacant rooms, but staffing levels are not high enough to support an increase in residents. The Northfeld Police Department was fully staffed for exactly two weeks in July this year and is now looking to hire as many as five new officers to either fill empty positions or offset planned retirements in 2023 and 2024, and there are concerns that their service to the community could lag. Post is reporting a job vacancy rate of 5%, when its pre-pandemic rate was regularly at 1%, hurting the factory’s overall production.
The article offers several reasons for the decline in the workforce. The pandemic sent many baby boomers into an early retirement, fewer students from St. Olaf and Carleton are looking for off-campus jobs. And childcare, something Governor Walz talked about during his visit, is at a crisis level, keeping many parents of younger children at home.
Heading into 2023, the article said, there are signs that the labor market might be loosening a bit, but economic forecasts show it could be another 6 to 8 months before things are more manageable in Northfield and the rest of the country.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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