Northfield Hospital + Clinics announced yesterday that Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President Scott Edin has passed away while fighting to recover from
He joined NH+C in June of 2015 after serving as Vice President of Finance and General Services at Amery Regional Medical Center for thirty years.
A statement released by NH+C said Edin will be missed as a leader, colleague, and friend.
“Scott’s financial expertise, his mentorship, and his energy have helped guide the organization,” said NH+C President and CEO Steve Underdahl. “He earned the respect and friendship of his colleagues here, and his peers in the healthcare community. He will be missed.”
The statement said NH+C’s administrative team is managing the work that Edin led.
Pursell pleased to see ‘Democracy for the People’ bill pass that House
Last week, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the Democracy for the People bill, which according to the bill’s sponsors would protect and strengthen 
Representative Kristi Pursell (D-Northfield) said she was in strong support of the bill. While Pursell has made it clear that her top priority is to see that the state legislature passes legislature to help the farmers and rural areas of the state, she also said she was inspired to run for office after the January 6th attack on the Naton’s Capitol, and she believes the bill will address some of the concerns left in the wake of that attack.
The bill’s author, Representative Emma Greenman (D-Minneapolis), said the bill would address a mandate she believes the voters gave the legislature to “act with urgency to protect and strengthen our democracy.”
Specifically, the bill creates an automatic voter registration and preregistration of 16 and 17-year-olds, so they are eligible to vote on the day they turn 18. It allows all voters to choose to vote by mail on a permanent absentee ballot list. It prohibits behavior identified as voter intimidation, harassment, and deceptive practices intended to interfere with the vote, and offers translation services at all polling places. It will also close dark money loopholes and increase transparency to show who is spending money to influence Minnesota elections, prohibiting foreign corporations from spending money and influencing Minnesota elections.
Pursell, a member of the House Elections Committee, said some of the funding for the procedural changes is in the bill, but there is another funding bill that was actually passed by the House last night.
“This has a lot of policy pieces in it. This file, House file three, has some funding attached to it, but the other half the election overall budget bill [was passed last night]. And then that will be sort of the full suite of election bills.”
Representative Pursell said this bill has been identified as a top priority by her party, and she expects the companion bill in the Senate to come to a vote, and pass, shortly.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Representative Kristi Pursell can be heard here
Environmental Sustainability Fund could be ready by fall of ‘24
With Earth Day coming up this weekend, a challenge has been issued to the community to support the Northfield Shares Environmental Sustainability Fund. 
The fund was established in October 2021 when donations were made during the first ReCharge Northfield Electric Vehicle event by a pair of participating foundations. While it has grown, one Northfeld couple has decided to make an effort to get the fund in position to start offering grants.
Mary Lynn Oglesbee and her husband Clay are matching all gifts to the fund up to $5,000. Mary Lynn has been on the Northfield Shares board for seven years, three of them as Chair, and said over the years she has watched other people make donations to help put a fund in position to begin offering grants, and she and her husband have found that to be inspiring. Clay, meanwhile, said the two are passionate about tending to the climate crisis, and saw this as an excellent way to do their part. The couple, he said, have lived in Northfield for 25 years, and would like to see the area’s future as rich, beautiful and safe as it has been in the past. Plus, he said, giving to a local foundation for this purpose fits with their personal philosophy.
“There are some quick authors who talk about tending to the world ten miles around you, so not the whole planet all at once, but to take care of the 10 miles nearest to you. So that’s Northfield and Dundas and a whole lot of farmland. We’re trying to watch the watershed and the farms in the area and also these communities to try to address the environmental care issues that arise for us now.”
While the fund was established during an electric vehicle event, Mary Lynn said sustainability is much more than EV’s. She said the fund will most likely coincide with many of the goals laid out in the city’s climate action plan. Clay added that helping lower income families with things like skirting for manufactured homes, buying window insulation kits, or helping with home energy audits are a few ways the fund could be productive.
Northfield Shares Executive Director Carrie Carroll said donations are welcome in several different ways. Northfield Shares will happily take donations in person, through the mail, over the phone, or online. For more information about Northfield Shares, the Environmental Sustainability Fund, and the many other funds the foundation manages, visit Northfieldshares.org.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
[recent_post_carousel slides_to_show=”1″ limit=”5″ slides_to_scroll=”1″ category=”10″ media_size=”medium” dots=”false” show_read_more=”false”]
