The active assailant training that was conducted at the Northfield Middle School last weekend was somewhat unusual from other parts of the 
Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott said that multi-agency training involving students from a broad region, like the training that took place in Northfield, does not happen everywhere around the country.
Northfield Hospital + Clinics Emergency Medical Service Chief Brian Edwards was one of the people conducting the training and has been a trainer for this type of scenario for years. He said the training they go through, dealing with an active shooter scenario, is the type of thing he hopes no one ever has to use, but, he said, the threat is real, and therefore the training is necessary.
The key to the training, he said, is in teaching the three types of agencies, law enforcement, fire, and Emergency Medical Services to work together, communicate, and play to their strengths. Law Enforcement, he said, can stop the threat, but they are not adept at moving a large number of people. Fire can move a large number of people, but they aren’t as good at getting people to the hospital and treating them along the way, which is where EMS comes in. Events like this one, he said, teach the different groups how to work together.
“In an event such as this, unified command is absolutely essential. It’s a three-legged stool that supports the weight of the entire operation and those three legs are law enforcement, fire service and EMS. You have to have those three representatives from those three disciplines standing in close proximity having a conversation with each other, [asking] how are we going to solve this problem together?”
In fact, he said, it was a lack of this type of training that caused the breakdown in Uvalde, Texas where the three agencies had not been well trained and did not know how to communicate.
Edwards said the people participating last week were from all over the Southeast Region of Minnesota, representing at least half-a-dozen communities, and several different agencies, which can pay several different dividends down the line. The Northfield Middle School is an excellent place to train, he said, because it is such a complex building. And the people who go through the training can use the principles in any sort of scenario.
“The good thing about our training is that it’s applicable in almost any environment. I can’t think of an environment where it wouldn’t work, you know. Obviously if you take something like Las Vegas, it’s a lot more complicated because you have an active threat that’s difficult to mitigate, difficult to contain, but this training would work for just about every encounter we could possibly have.”
Edwards said the Northfield Community is fortunate to have leadership like Police Chief Elliott and Fire Chief Tom Nelson, because there is an understanding and agreement between them and with Edwards that working together is the key to making an operation like this work.
City entertaining long range ideas for the Riverfront
During the City Council work session on Tuesday night, consultants Bob Close and Bruce Jacobson, presented a conceptual plan for the 5th & 
Water Street redevelopment project, and they also laid out a larger vision that they said would activate the area surrounding the Northfield Riverfront. The plan proposes some bold ideas that would indeed transform the entire Riverfront area.
The Ames Mill dam is the first focal point of the project. A study is currently underway to evaluate the feasibility and the effects of removing the dam in order to transform that section of the Cannon River into a more recreational space. That could also trigger a change in Ames Park, as well. City Administrator Ben Martig said with a more active river, the flooding that is a regular occurrence in the park could be worked into new designs and ideas. There could even be some development on the West side of the park, he said.
There are ideas for the Riverfront further downstream. While the community waits for news on new development of the former Archer House Space, the city would like to see the riverwalk expanded, and the space that is currently used for parking become greener and more recreational. In fact, said Close, the buildings on the Riverfront should have front facing facades on both sides. One side on the street, and the other on the river.
There are also plans to beautify the stretch of Highway 3 that runs through Northfield, said Jacobson, and make it more pedestrian friendly. That would require working with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and MnDot is notoriously difficult in situations like this. However, he said, “the highway cannot be set up the way it is today for Northfield to be as successful as possible.”
Martig said the ideas are just ideas right now, and as the city looks to the future, there is hope that these ideas will stimulate conversation within the Northfield Community.
“It’s really a lot of different pieces moving together, and some of these things you can’t really decide what you’re going to do until some of those other pieces are figured out. So, it’s really kind of interesting. I think it’ll be a vibrant and engaging discussion year, as it relates to some of these projects with the city.”
In fact, he said, Close and Jacobson are spending quite a bit of time engaging organizations like the Defeat of Jesse James Days Committee and other civic groups asking for feedback on the project.
Mayor Pownell stressed the importance of keeping the community informed in what is being discussed, and that the information coming from the city must be both high quality and educational. Martig said it is important that the community not rush to judgement on some of these plans, and to keep in mind that things like this can take a long time to become reality.
“One thing I would say is we float all these different ideas out, but nothing’s decided until the City Council votes, probably through multiple stages of things, and makes decisions. So, [we hope] people keep an open mind to have open conversations and ask good questions. And if you’re a stakeholder group and you want to meet with our consultants, they are here every week, and we are scheduling meetings.”
Close and Jacobson are indeed available for meetings, and a series of open houses has been planned to present the ideas to the community. They hope to hold the next open house in February.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield City Administrator Ben Martig can be heard here
WINGS Grants offer help to community supporting programs for women and youth
Women in Northfield Giving Support, better known as WINGS, is inviting Northfield area non-profit organizations to apply for 2023 WINGS 
grants. These grants are given in support of projects benefitting women and youth in the Northfield area, to qualified non-profit organizations, public schools and government organizations for the purpose of general community support. Projects funded must benefit members of the Northfield School District.
WING funds grants in the following areas of focus:
–Basic Needs: housing stability, food stability, economic stability, and safe environments for the elderly and for survivors of domestic violence
–Education: early learning, out-of-school programs, special needs/at-risk youth and adults, and adult education
–Physical and Mental Health: health care and healthy behaviors
As an all-volunteer organization, WINGS has distributed more than one million dollars in grants to Northfield area non-profits since 2000. WINGS funds organizations that increase access to opportunity, taking into consideration financial need and capacity building. WINGS favors projects that build capacity by leveraging resources and encourages grant proposals that enhance an organization’s abilities to carry out its mission. Grants that offer a proactive, innovative approach to solving a community problem or address systematic change are especially welcome. WINGS prefers to fund projects and programs where the grant has a significant impact on the organization or the program and results in tangible outcomes.
To apply for a grant, go to the WINGS website at wings-mn.org. Applications must be submitted electronically by March 1. If you have any questions, please email Emily Blumhoefer at grants@wings-mn.org.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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