Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
Last Tuesday, the Northfield Mayor’s Youth Council proposed a rules change to the City Council regarding the public comments section of the meeting. Currently, when a resident addresses the City Council, they complete a sign up card with their address so that the City Clerk can verify they live in Northfield, their address is then published in the meeting minutes, and they are asked to state their address at the beginning of their comments to the council.
After discussing this practice, the Mayor’s Youth Council voted to send a letter to the City Council asking for the rule to be changed. Here’s Elizabeth McCormick one of the members of the group, addressing the Council:
“We’re issuing an official statement urging the Council to abandon the practice of having speakers speak their full address out loud at these public meetings. We feel that it discourages participation and is barrier for many to give their valuable input. Additionally, we are concerned with the legality of this practice as individuals in the safe home program, how their address is protected by Minnesota statues.” – Elizabeth McCormick, a member of the Mayor’s Youth Council, addressing the Northfield City Council on 4/15/2025
Responding to questions from the Council, City Clerk Lynette Peterson stated that she had polled several cities about their policy and found that while most cities requested it, a majority did not require the address to be publicly stated. The proposed changes would still require residents to complete a signup card with the address, but only for the City Clerk to verify their address, it would no longer be publicly stated. The proposal was widely praised by the City Council, with Councilor Brad Ness praising the group for coming forward and Councilor Kathleen Holmes stating that she was pleased with the results, hoping it would help make addressing the council more accessible.
“I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that’s that’s gone into this and my line of questions I think is because we’ve as a previous Council and I’d say as a current Council, have really looked at how do we make things more inclusive and approachable and accessible when it comes to engaging and and allowing, you know, and being able to hear from public comment and I support this.” – Kathleen Holmes, Northfield City Council at the Northfield City Council Meeting on 4/15/2025
The rule change was adopted unanimously by the City Council. The rule change goes into effect by the next City Council meeting.
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