The Northfield Public Library recently received a threat of violence via a phone call to the Library. Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott released a statement concerning the threat:
On January 5, 2024 at 5:09 pm, a threat of violence was called in to the Northfield Public Library. The caller threatened to shoot up the library. Staff immediately reported this to library leadership and the police. The police immediately responded and did not find any threat on site. As a precaution the library closed early for the evening. There did not appear to be an immediate credible threat to the library, patrons, or staff.
An investigation into the source of the threat has begun. The police department is aware of other public and private institutions in other areas of the state that were victims by hoax threats on this same day. Law Enforcement takes these threats seriously and will fully prosecute those responsible. If further information is obtained as to the source of the threats, that information will be released. The investigation into the incident is still ongoing. There is no further information available at this time.
Bridge Square Funding
At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the councilors approved a resolution to request state funding for the Bridge Square remodeling project. The request will be for a $3.5 million matching grant.
The State Legislature will convene next month in what is traditionally to be a “Bonding Year”. The legislature is not required to bond this year, but typically in a non budget year, they use their bonding power to assist local jurisdictions financially. Historically, Northfield hasn’t used this option as often as City Administrator Ben Martig would like, “I was frankly a little shocked when I came here as the city administrator that the City hadn’t been going after these kind of state dollars because you never know. I’m not saying we dream up new projects that we wouldn’t otherwise do but the City has been successful on projects they’ve been working on in getting funding for the Mill Towns Trail and our transit hub; both that are scheduled for construction this year and it dramatically decreased the cost to our local taxpayers and so you never know – take a shot at it and see if we can get it.”
The state is under no obligation to approve Northfield’s request, or do any bonding at all. But Mayor Pownell is optimistic because of the relationships that have been built with state officials. “There have been multiple tours that have been hosted in our downtown area where we have been engaging with our representatives at the state level so they are aware of kind of the vision for our downtown, and creating those relationships, strong relationships, so that when the time is right for us to do the ask, they’re not being caught by surprise either.”
City officials last year hosted Governor Walz, then DEED-commissioner Steve Grove, as well as our own legislators Representative Kristi Pursell and Senator Bill Lieske and others in the house and senate.
Still, the money is not guaranteed, and, potentially not the only outside funding source. Martig says other monies may be available. “The staff is still exploring state and federal grant programs that are available and some of the timing of the projects we are looking at, in the best case start in the fall, would open up some opportunities for more applications to go in to try and secure some other funding as well. So we’re going to explore those as well while we continue to design and fine tune the details of the construction documents.”
If all goes well and the funding is received, the city is still aiming to begin the projects perhaps as soon as this fall.
Dundas Projects 2024
The City of Dundas has a number of projects slated for 2024. Two of the projects will take center stage earlier in the year. The new dog park has received plenty of attention, and City Administrator Janelle Teppen says it is a priority “We’re going to finish up the dog park, put the new gates in – it’s not open yet. We’ve seeded it and so we want the seed to take root and grow a good turf and we might move some more trees in there, that kind of thing, so finish up the dog park.”
There also will be a major reconstruction in the Forest and Depot Street area this summer. Residents will be able to see and comment on the project a little later this month. “We’re going to have an informational open house for those residents along Forest and Depot on Thursday, January 25, from 5-6 p.m. and we’ll notify those residents in the next several days of that. And then as we get the whole scope of the project put together, we’ll have another meeting with those residents just to keep them informed in terms of road closures, timing, that kind of thing.”
There are numerous other projects slated for the year. We’ll have more on those as they approach.
