Last week during the Northfield School Board meeting, the board heard a presentation from Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott, 
Northfield High School Assistant Principal Rico Bohren, Northfield Middle School Assistant Principal Michael O’Keefe, and Northfield School Resource Officer Gabriel Crombie regarding both the success and the importance of the School Resource Officer program.
The SRO is a shared employee of the Northfield School District and the Police Department, each paying about half of his salary. As the Resource Officer, Officer Crombie works in the schools, fostering seamless communication between the district and the police and assisting in whatever matters might arise. He also offers important instruction in the community through the D.A.R.E program. And he can help in special situations. Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann used the recent example of a Middle School Student who was involved in a mental health crisis on a Saturday night.
“Typically, over the weekend in that kind of case, we may not have gotten any other information, but because there’s that connection that we have with the Northfield Police Department. Officer Crombie was able to get some information to Mr. O’Keefe about how to support this particular student and then on Monday, our student services team was able to understand what happened over the weekend and was able to be ready to support that student and their family immediately on Monday morning.”
Both Hillmann and Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott said one of the most important aspects of Crombie’s work is building relationships with the students themselves. Elliott himself was a School Resource Officer and a D.A.R.E. Officer early in his career and said the relationships those officers build with students can last a lifetime and can be helpful years down the road.
“I still, to this day, get contacted by people that were D.A.R.E. students of mine or were at the high school when I was there, and we’re talking this is 20 to 25 years ago. Sometimes it’s about stuff going on in their life and not always good. I had one student call and said, ‘You know what? I got my third DWI and I’m just tired of how I’m living. How can you help?’ And he wasn’t asking for me to necessarily help him, but he just wants to know how he can get better.”
Indeed Hillmann, too, has discussed the importance of students having a trusted relationship with an adult who is not a parent, and the SRO is a perfect candidate to fill that role.
Elliott has spoken often about the importance of Community Policing in his department and has said the NPD is not a place for people who want to spend their time investigating homicides and other felonies, because there is not a lot of that sort of activity here. What they do focus on is getting to know the businesses and the people of the town, to build trust, and help keep the peace. He sees the Community Resource Officer’s role as a key component to that work.
The school district and the police department have a three-year agreement on the SRO program, which will be due to be renewed at the end of 2024.
Rich Larson’s full conversation with Northfield Chief of Police Mark Eliott can be heard here
Pursell presents her first piece of legislation to Ag Committee
Last Week Representative Kristi Pursell (D-Northfield) presented her first piece of legislation to the House Agriculture Finance and Policy
This was a program that had been put in place more than twenty years ago, but then was abolished during the Pawlenty administration. The bill has strong bi-partisan support. Representatives John Burkel, Nathan Nelson, and Bobbie Harder all Republican members of the Ag Committee, along with Representative Chris Swedzinski, a Republican and a farmer in Southeast Minnesota, have all signed onto the bill as co-authors, with many Democrats signed on as well.
Three people representing the agricultural community, one member of the Perennial Promise Growers Co-op, a member of the Latinx community’s Shared Ground Co-op, and a member of the Farmer’s Union each testified in favor of the bill.
Agricultural co-ops are put together to help smaller farms band together to help compete with larger corporate farms. As a group they are able to better invest in marketing, equipment, and inputs, and it can help with yields and profit as well.
Pursell said as the bill is written, recipients can apply for up to $50,000 per co-op, and she acknowledged that that amount is a drop in the bucket for what is needed.
“The way the bill is written right now, $50,000 is the maximum amount available, which isn’t a ton. When I was at Clean River Partners, we were helping the Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative get started, to try to have more control on the price and quantity and marketing. So, to see that start up process very recently, it’s kind of an incredible amount of money.”
The bill, she said, will offer seed money to help co-ops access much more funding that is available at the federal level. Plus, it is important to re-establish the program. Once it is seen to be successful, more state funding can be added.
Pursell said she is unsure if the bill will pass out of committee on its own or be held back to be included in a larger omnibus bill, but with the amount of support it has in the Ag Committee, one way or the other it will move on.
Clean River Partners’ Downstream Film Festival now taking submissions
Submissions are now being accepted for the 2023 edition of the Downstream Film Festival. 
All filmmakers who create films about rivers, water, and natural resources, or people exploring and recreating in the outdoors are invited to submit their work for film festival, hosted by Clean River Partners. The organization is looking for films about water, natural areas, and equity in the outdoors.
Kevin Strauss, the CRP Community Engagement Coordinator said the films can vary in length, and that some are as short as 3 minutes. Some of the filmmakers are widely known within their industry and have worked on other national projects, while others were created by local Northfield filmmakers. In the past, the films have ranged from award winners being screened at festivals across the nation to bold new student films.
The festival will take place on Tuesday, May 23rd in Northfield, with follow-up events in Faribault, Red Wing, and Owatonna, and other communities.
To submit a film, visit the Downstream Film Festival website and click the “Submit Now” button. The deadline is Wednesday, March 1st. For more information contact Kevin Strauss at kevin@cleanriverpartners.org.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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