As this is a budgeting year, the Minnesota Legislature announced the budget targets last week for each House and Senate committee. The 
In the House of Representatives, the targets call for $721.7 million in new education spending, $120 million for higher education and $50 million for early childhood, and $323 million health and human services.
Representative Kristi Pursell said, for the committees on which she serves, the Elections Finance and Policy Committee will have $10 million, and the Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee will have $670 million to create the budgets for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Board of Water and Soil Resources, and the Department of Natural Resources. As a member of the Education Finance Committee, she said the overall E-12 Education budget this year will top $2 billion dollars.
The House Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee, of which Pursell is Vice Chair, has been given $48 million to work with. She noted that there will be $100 million for the expansion of broadband internet into rural areas that will be part of the Ag budget eventually, but right now it has its own budget line item.
As the chief author of the broadband bill, Pursell expressed some disappointment with the amount that has been allocated, but said it is important to make some sort of investment immediately to get things moving.
“My original bill was for $276 million dollars over two years. The targets came out to less than half of that amount, but it will still be the largest investment Minnesota will have ever made. We’ve been promised funds from the federal government, but because it’s unclear how long it might take to get those funds here, we’re taking action in our state now. We cannot afford to miss another construction season and so we’ll be getting Minnesotans who deserve to be connected to the internet [set up] this year with these funds.”
The omnibus bills will be heard in committees this week and then make their way to the House Floor.
NAFRS hoping to find recruits with daytime availability
The Northfield Area Fire and Rescue Service will soon be looking for new recruits. 
Chief Tom Nelson said the department had five members retire in 2022, and there is a need for new people. According to the NAFRS website, firefighter positions require the ability to report to at least 30% of annual fire calls and attend Monday evening fire drills, meetings and trainings. Pay and benefits include $16.17 per hour for training/meetings; $21.63 per hour for fire calls, excellent annual pension with satisfactory attendance, and fully paid Firefighter/EMT training tuition and expenses.
The website also states that candidates within a 10-minute response time to the Fire Station are preferred. And Nelson added that for this recruiting period, the department will be looking for people who have daytime availability.
“Because so many people work out of town that that makes it [a little difficult.] We want to make sure that we have coverage during the day. The city employees are great to be able to have on, but you end up leaning on a larger handful of people and we want to try to strengthen our bench a little bit.”
Nelson said the department is considered fully staffed when they have 30-35 firefighters on call. At that number, he said, they will generally see 15 people arrive to a call within the first 5-7 minutes, and others can come later if necessary to provide relief and support.
When fully staffed, he said, firefighters are always on call and never on call, meaning they do not have to answer every time firefighters are summoned, but they will always receive the call and are therefore able to prioritize certain situations.
Nelson said the recruiting period will begin with an open house at the fire station that will provide those who are interested with an excellent view of what it’s like to be a Northfield Area Firefighter.
“Come down and we’ll talk with you. We’ll have all the trucks out. People can kind of play around, walk around, talk to firefighters, talk to firefighters, families so that you kind of know what it’s about and then [there will] still be time to apply. We’ve had really good luck. I think of the last hire, pretty much all of them had been to the open house either knowing they were going to apply, or it convinced him to apply.”
Nelson said he expects the posting to be well publicized through the city communications department and on both social and standard media. It will also be up for a substantial amount of time to ensure that everyone in the community knows, and any potential recruit is given ample time to apply.
The jobs will be posted in early April.
Earth Day organizers make call for exhibitors
And organizers are preparing for the 2023 edition of the Northfield Earth Day Celebration. 
As in years past, the day will be filled with opportunities to talk to and learn about better ways to care for our planet and environment through seminars, workshops and opportunities to talk with people working on better climate goals. A trade fair will be set up on Bridge Square in the afternoon and will be offering several featured speakers and live music.
The Sustainable Community Action and Idea Fair is seeking Earth-friendly exhibitors with informative and educational displays, participatory projects, products, and services that improve the sustainability of our community and planet and inspire participants to take action. The Fair will be an opportunity to talk to many people and could be a very effective recruiting tool. Northfield Earth Day will also host the Cannon Valley Market, as it has in years past, to encourage more participation.
According to the group’s website, Northfield Earth Day is a group of local volunteers who commit to building awareness, skills, and action in the face of climate change to ensure the community’s sustainability and resilience, and a healthier planet for all.
Northfield’s Earth Day celebration is set for Saturday, April 22. For more information visit northfieldearthday.com.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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