The Northfield City Council has their first meeting of 2024 this evening in Council Chambers. On the agenda tonight will be the typical first of the year housekeeping….adopting a schedule, designating an official Depository and Newspaper, electing a mayor pro tem, etc. The consent agenda includes approving a professional service agreement for the Trunk Highway 246 East Side Trail. The trail would run from the high school pedestrian crossing south to the roundabout on the east side. The consulting fees amount to $175,000.
On the regular agenda, Council will consider accepting bids and awarding a contract on the Honeylocust Drive East Cannon River Trail (ECRT) Project. The project will connect the East CR Trail to the cul-de-sac on the west end of Honeylocust Drive. The cost of the project is $292,000.
Council is also asked to approve a resolution that would request the state’s participation in funding the Bridge Square remodel to the tune of $3,500,000, half of the projected cost. The meeting gets underway at 6:00pm in Council Chambers at City Hall.
Northfield Communications Department Goals for 2024
While the council prepares for the new year, the City’s Communications Department has also set goals for 2024. Recently, department heads met and discussed ways to improve the public’s access and experience with the governing body.
Michelle Mahowald, Communications Director, Kara Trygstad, Communications Specialist, Claudia Garcia, Spanish Interpreter, and Northfield Public Broadcasting Manager Sam Temple comprise the group, who oversee everything from streaming council meetings to press releases to video production to information in the downtown kiosks. Making that information accessible to the public in an easy manner to increase government transparency is the goal. “Any tool that you have to connect and be involved civically, we’re hoping to highlight in video format on Northfield Public Broadcasting. Whether it’s e-comments for council meetings, watching videos and council and commission meetings remotely, we want to have a nice easy package for folks to be able to make use of all these tools,” said Temple on the KYMN morning show last week.
Yesterday, we highlighted public service and participation with the city on boards and commissions. Temple used that as an example of what they have been doing: “We’ll be producing and releasing some explainer videos for folks if you want to be part of a board or commission and want to understand what does that role actually entail. We’ll have a video about that.” Increasing community engagement is the ultimate goal, and Temple says they are trying to remove the roadblocks to information and participation: “We can have a tool available, but unless we really encourage people to use it and really make it as intuitive as possible for them to use it, that’s what we’re always striving for – the transparency that we want to provide and the engagement that we want to encourage. We need to make that as easy as possible.” Northfield Public Broadcasting can be accessed through their website, NPB.ci.northfield.mn.us, and on Spectrum Cable’s channels 181 and 187. The Communications Department’s work can be viewed throughout their website as well as mailers, press releases, and throughout the civic organizations.
DEED Award – Northfield
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced nearly $4 million in grants to 16 community and nonprofit organizations, the latest in the agency’s broader effort to help grow Minnesota’s workforce. One of those grants is coming to a Northfield organization.
The Community Action Center of Northfield will receive a $168,000 grant from the program. The funding is earmarked for car maintenance and repair, credit counseling, and job training. Grant recipient organizations are required to offer workshops or counseling services covering topics such as financial literacy, credit counseling, budgeting for vehicle ownership, vehicle maintenance and repair training.
