Last week during the Northfield City Council’s regular meeting, Community Development Director Jake Reilly introduced a resolution before the council asking the Minnesota Department of Transportation to consider safety improvements to Highway 3.
Several development plans are either underway or have been built on Trunk Highway 3 from Rosemount to Faribault, and among MnDot’s future plans is a redesign of the Highway 3, Highway 19 intersection. The resolution asks MnDot to consider a “human centered design, that would be focused on the safety of those who bike, walk and/or roll across and along the highway’s sidewalks and shoulders.” Reilly said that making things safer for people outside of vehicles makes things safer for people inside of them.”
Highway 3 is seen by many residents of Northfield as a dividing line that separates two different parts of town, and Reilly added there are grant dollars available under a new state Reconnecting Communities program that has made money available for smaller, outstate cities. Mayor Rhonda Pownell said people on one side of Northfield need to have easier access to the other side.
“Our primary shopping area is here on the East side. There are lots of great parks on this side. The pool is on this side. We have schools on this side of town, our high school and middle school. It’s all on the east side of the city. It is just really important that we improve accessibility for everybody walking, biking, and driving. When you improve the design of those things, you get a better, safer roadway for all involved.”
Another aspect of the project, Reilly said, would be in future development. A more accessible Highway 3 corridor would make it easier to bring the same sort of development that is along Division Street to the West side of the Cannon River, which is one of the long-term goals of the current Downtown Redevelopment project.
City Administrator Ben Martig said that point of the resolution was for the City Council to make a clear and strong statement to MnDot that this is a priority to the City of Northfield. However, he said making the statement won’t be enough to make things happen. Designers and administrators with the Department of Transportation, he said, will always decline the first requests, saying the money isn’t there. It is important, he said, for people in MnDot, and State Legislators to hear from private citizens, then, that this is something everyone in Northfield wants to see happen.
“We have to work hard to lobby this, because there’s limited money and it’s kind of like the squeaky wheel. I would say, what citizens can do is voice their concerns to state MnDOT officials, come to our open houses when we have them on different highway projects, and talk to your legislators at the state level about supporting these things.”
The City Council passed the resolution unanimously.
Malecha says HCI will ‘double down’ on the good things
Healthy Community Initiative announced last week that Sandy Malecha has accepted the position of permanent Executive Director.
According to its website, the mission and vision of HCI is to “cultivate collaborative communities in Rice County that support, value, and empower youth, and create communities where all youth thrive through an unwavering commitment to equity & anti-racism.”
The organization, which was founded in 1992, has succeeded by creating partnerships with numerous other groups and organizations including the Northfield and Faribault School Districts, Rice County Family Services, the Northfield Police Department, and dozens of private companies and non-profit groups throughout Rice County.
Over the years, HCI has grown into a 40-person organization with a budget of $40 million. Most of the growth came under former Executive Director Zach Pruitt, who now serves as the Director of Community Education for the Faribault School District. Malecha joined HCI in 2014 and served as a Senior Director from 2017 until 2022, when she was named interim executive director. She said much of the work she has done with the organization was directly under Pruitt who taught her quite a bit, she said. And she has learned to keep the organization, as she put it, “nimble and responsive to what the community needs at any given time.”
“At HCI, we serve as a backbone. We work a lot with data that helps us better understand how our kids are doing and how we can work together to make sure systems are working better for kids. I think we’re going to continue that work, and we’re going to work really hard to make sure HCI is a place where we can attract and retain talent.”
To that end, the organization has restructured its Executive Leadership. New positions have been created for a Finance Manager and a Human Resources Manager. After 31 years, and the massive growth the organization has experienced, HCI Board Co-Chair Ellen Iverson said the restructuring is going to allow HCI to function as it always has and do even more for the people of Rice County.
“What HCI brings in terms of expertise and capacity to strengthen and accelerate outcomes in the community is amazing and I think that setting this next leadership up in a way to take off from all that [Pruitt] has put into it is going to be just wonderful to see.”
For more information on Healthy Community Initiative, visit healthycommunityinitiative.org.
School Board will reinstate Stratmoen tonight
The Northfield School Board will meet tonight in the Northfield School District Office Boardroom, at the District Office building.
Among the many items on the meeting agenda will be a vote to ratify the tentative two-year agreement between the Northfield School District and the Northfield Education Association. The board will also discuss and vote on a resolution reinstating Noel Stratmoen back onto the school board. Also on the agenda, the Board will hear Continuous Improvement presentations from Northfield Middle School Principal Greg Gelineau and new Northfield High School Activities Director John Mahal, and Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann will present a draft of his focus areas for the coming school year.
The School Board will always invite public comments from those who live in the Northfield School District, and time for public comments to be made is scheduled at the beginning of each meeting. Registration is required to address the School Board. A 30-minute registration window for those wishing to speak will open when the boardroom opens at 5:30.
Tonight’s meeting will begin at 6:00
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
