Yesterday the Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce announced this year’s award winners for Business of the Year, Businessperson of the Year,
and Ambassador of the Year.
Professional Dental Group was named the 2023 Business of the Year.
Business Coach Randy Yoder, who owns Buji ActionCOACH, was named Businessperson of the year.
Sam Mastin, a technology consultant who owns SMTech was named the Chamber Ambassador of the Year.
And the Chamber Humanitarian Award has been given to to Jill Hoelzel-Landsteiner for the work she has done with the VFW.
The award recipients will be honored at the Chamber Banquet and Annual Meeting on January 26th.
City’s 5th & Water Street project would be transformational
During their work session on Tuesday night, the Northfield City Council heard a presentation from consultants Bob Close and Bruce Jacobson
that laid out some of the plans for the 5th & Water Street redevelopment project, as well as a larger vision of the Northfield Riverfront.
Jacobson and Close have been working for quite a while with the city to create detailed plans, beginning with the Bridge Square redevelopment, then with plans along the Riverfront between 5th Street and 4th Steet. The city has also asked them to move beyond that and show the community what the possibilities are with large and expansive ideas that would remake and expand Downtown Northfield.
Jacobson and Close said the Bridge Square project is now in the design phase, with construction plans being drawn up, and the hope is construction could begin sometime in early 2024. The new Municipal Liquor Store project, which will encompass much more than building a new Muni, is still developing. Last year the city acquired the Ameriprise Building on the North side of the liquor store, and the former Northfield News building on the South side of fifth street, directly across from the liquor store. City Administrator Ben Martig said the city is exploring the possibilities of acquiring the properties adjacent to the Northfield News building, as well as the building currently occupied by the Reese Winter accounting firm, in order to expand the scope of the project.
The plans call for a transformation of the entire area. The section of Water Street that runs from 5th Street and wraps around the Post Office will be removed and replaced with green space, sidewalks and bicycle paths, as the idea is to create a larger common community space that will focus on the Riverfront. If the street is removed, then, of course, parking would be removed as well. Close and Jacobson said many times during their presentation that no parking space would be removed as a result of this project that isn’t replaced somewhere else. Martig said that is, in fact, another facet of the project.
“We are doing a parking analysis right now; a multimodal mobility study. It looks at parking, but it also looks at movement of people, biking facilities and some other things. And that might mean we might be looking at getting into some parking structures as maybe part of the solution, because we really have limited property, so that’s where maybe also on that redevelopment project we might have some built-in, structured parking as part of the project.”
Martig addressed rumors regarding the Post Office, as well. The building, he said, is not going to be torn down. Even if the city wanted to tear it down, which, he said, it doesn’t, the building is on the National Historical Register, and is protected. Quite the contrary, in fact, he said. The building could become the host to another integral part of the plan.
“Loon Liquors has been publicly open about saying they would love to move into an adaptive reuse of that building. It could really be a world class, destination distillery, offering industry tours, and maybe could draw 31,000 visitors a year. It could also bring 50 to 100 new jobs, potentially. It could really be an interesting expansion, and a unique project.”
While the city hopes to begin working on Bridge Square next year, Martig said they are not sure which other properties, if any, the city might be able to acquire, and because of that, there is no established timetable for the full project.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield City Administrator Ben Martig can be heard here
Rice County Sheriff’s Department hoping for full vehicle upgrades
The aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic has been difficult for every facet of society, and every section of the economy. No industry has 
been untouched by supply chain problems or hasn’t had to re-evaluate a budget due to 8.5% inflation, and that includes local law enforcement agencies.
Sheriff Jesse Thomas said his department is hoping to receive the full complement of squad cars that he ordered last May, but he is not sure if that will happen.
The price of squad cars, he said, has increased by nearly 25%. A car that used to cost $31,000 in 2021, now costs $41,000 in 2023. And, Thomas said, that is before the Squad Cars have been outfitted with all of the necessary equipment.
Aside from finding a way to pay for the cars, he said they also have to hope they receive all of the cars he has ordered. If they don’t, things could become problematic because the vehicles have a shelf life that isn’t quite as long as the family sedan.
“Our squad cars are on a rotation. We replace them every five years. We’ve shown that they start costing us a lot of money to repair them after that. So, every five years, unless we crack one up on the Interstate, helping the State Patrol, which is what happened on the last one. Overall, though, we’ve been pretty fortunate that we’ve haven’t had to total loss many cars, and nobody’s gotten hurt.”
And Thomas said, the department is having the same sort of problems trying to replace the department’s 11-year-old patrol boat.
Thomas said the department is attempting to buy a new Alumacraft boat, but the company keeps raising their prices which makes the boat more difficult to buy. Thomas said the new boat would be the same size, with a slightly bigger motor. However, the new boat will be easier to use in shallow water. With the water levels down so much, he said, the department needs a boat that can function where things aren’t quite as deep.
Thomas said there are always problems at the beginning of the year, especially with a budget that must be laid out earlier in the year. However, he and his deputies always find a way to make things work, and they will do so again this year.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Rice County Sheriff Jesse Thomas can be heard here
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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