When the Northfield City Council awarded the bid for the city’s 2023 mill & overlay street project at the regular council meeting on Tuesday night, they did so under heavy criticism. The gallery in the Council Chambers was filled with angry members of the community, protesting the construction of the bicycle lanes that are key components to the project.
During the public comment section of the meeting, several grievances were raised with the way the city has handled the situation. Chief among them is the finding of a petition circulated by a group of citizens to be insufficient and lacking in two thirds of the criteria necessary to give the petition legal stature. Many people criticized the Council and city staff for dismissing the petition on what they felt were technicalities and in disregard of the City Charter, but City Administrator Ben Martig said that the way the petition was written gave it fundamental flaws.
“This is only the legal part of the statutory requirement of the petition and again our position is it doesn’t relate to the Charter. The Charter has similar types of provisions within it as well, but six of those nine provisions weren’t met, and it was pretty clear. You read it and they were clearly absent. We can’t stray from the law. You know, there was some request like, ‘Well, if it’s close enough. Isn’t it close enough?’ And the answer is no, it’s very explicit under this statute. It’s related to the financing of the project that’s laid out.”
Another option that many of the protestors asked for was a change to the design of the project, removing the bike paths, and one in particular that will be built after the curb is extended by 8 feet creating public right of way space in front of many homes of the protestors. Martig said the city had looked at removing the bike paths as an option, but it was found to be in a critical area.
“I think one of the difficulties with it is that the design is so integrated right there. That section of design connects two routes together and you’d have basically infrastructure of biking and sidewalk networks just ending. I think that was one fundamental policy challenge.”
Councilor Brad Ness moved for an amendment that would have removed the bicycle lanes from the project. It died, however, when there was no second from the Council.
The bid was awarded to Ims Contracting of Dodge County for $4.8 million.
Up to $1200 in rebates and tax credits available through Inflation Reduction Act
The Northfield Rotary Climate Action team is ramping up its community outreach efforts in order to spread the word about new government programs that are helping people reduce energy costs while making some climate friendly changes at the same time. They are also talking with people about a more climate friendly lifestyle and have many suggestions for that as well.
Mike Provancha is a member of both the Rotary Climate Action Team and the Northfield Environmental Quality Commission. He said the federal Inflation Reduction Act offers up to $1200 in credits and rebates to families and individuals who are interested in better weatherization for their home. The most obvious way to go about that, he said, is to replace the doors and windows in the house with more energy efficient products. But there are other suggestions as well. There are specific rebates in the program for those who install a heat pump in their home, replacing both the furnace and the air conditioner. Installing sky tubes in the home is another option to bring in more natural light and cut down on the amount of electricity used to light a home.
Provancha said part of the reason for the Community outreach is because things are getting more and more serious with climate change. It’s time for us to stop creating so much waste and make some real changes.
“Talking about the suburbs and our landfills. Our landfills are filling up rapidly and they’re saying we need to reduce. We cannot be making all of this waste. We have to really think outside the box. We have to change some of our behaviors.”
He recommended a book by Dr. Heidi Roop entitled The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions for Everyone, that makes suggestions about what each of us can do to be more environmentally friendly. Some of the suggestions, he said, might sound strange at first, but they actually make a lot of sense.
“It’s been informative for me. It’s helped me see what I’ve been doing correctly and what I need to change to do better. So, there’s a lot of things like I mentioned that we can do to make things better. For example, drying your clothes on the clothesline. Again, some people might see that as an old-fashioned thing that we used to do back in the day, but my goodness, it’s nice to get outside. Take that time. Hang up those clothes. Let them let the environment do the work for you.”
Provancha said the Rotary Climate Action Team will have a table every Saturday morning at the Riverwalk Market Fair on Bridge Square for those who are looking for more information.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Mike Provancha can be heard here
Congratulations to the Class of 2023
It is Graduation Weekend in Northfield, with three separate commencement ceremonies happening over the next three days.
Arcadia Charter School will hold a ceremony for its graduating seniors tonight at 6:30 in the area behind the school. Executive Director Laura Stelter said the small class size allows for each student to be recognized with some remarks by an adult in their life who knows them and has watched them develop.
The Carleton College commencement ceremony will be tomorrow morning at 9:30. According to the school’s website,the program will include the traditional elements of ceremony, including an academic procession, remarks by President Alison Byerly and a selected graduate. The commencement address this year will be given by Washington Post and MSNBC journalist Jonathan Capehart, a 1989 graduate of the school.
And of course, the Northfield High School commencement ceremony is set for Sunday afternoon. Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann said there will be 285 graduates this year, including Portage and ALC students. The Area Learning Center, where those past the age of eighteen can work to earn a high school diploma, held its own commencement ceremony last week, and Hillmann said that is always a remarkable event.
“It is one of my favorite events of the year. You know, the Area Learning Center is a smaller group of students who graduate and they are able to have each student come on stage and teachers give a little bit of a testimony about their perseverance and the work that they’ve done to graduate. It’s just a very heartwarming event.”
The High School commencement ceremony will be at 2:00 on Sunday at Memorial Field. As always, KYMN will broadcast the ceremony live.
The Class of 2023 began their high school or college careers in the fall of 2019. Over the past four years they have endured quite a bit thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic and have not had what would be considered the traditional educational experience. For the work they have done under extremely difficult circumstances, those of us here at KYMN offer a hearty congratulations to each of the 2023 graduates.
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
