By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
Scott Wopata has been appointed as the Community Development Director for the City of Northfield. The role oversees is one of the city’s most important departments, with functions including building inspections, housing development, and economic development. Wopata comes to the position having been a long-time community organizer, first as the Executive Director of the Northfield Union of Youth, and currently as the Executive Director of the Community Action Center. Mayor Erica Zweifel shared how these factors are what made Wopata an exciting fit for the role:
“So he has the local knowledge. He’s very relational; he loves building relationships and building trust. And then just, I mean, in addition to all that, an excellent project manager. You look at the projects that he’s led at the CAC, like Hillcrest and the one currently happening in Faribault, just has all, checks all the boxes and then some.” – Erica Zweifel, Northfield Mayor on KYMN in the Morning
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While at the CAC, Wopata oversaw the organization’s expansion from serving 3,000 people to 18,000, a sixfold growth in the CAC’s budget, and the construction of the Hillcrest housing development.
After his appointment, Wopata told the City Council that he felt honored to be chosen for the role and to have received the trust of the community at the CAC, and said that it was an important aspect to continue while he worked at the City:
“There’s this overwhelming amount of trust that people have expressed to me to come into this position trust is a pretty scarce resource when it comes to government in 2025 and I just want to say that I want to hold that as this sacred kind of special thing that can happen because we are all really committed to Northfield.” – Scott Wopata, Incoming Northfield Community Development Director at the 11/4/2025 City Council Meeting
He noted the importance of the role, and hoped to begin to address the housing and economic development priorities in Northfield:
“I think as a council I would recommend maybe hold on to your hats. My career and my trajectory here is all about growth and it’s not just growth for the sake of growth but it’s about really creatively creatively tackling really complex problems and I’ll just say I hope all of you are excited about that and if you’re not well you just approved the wrong person for this this is where I want to go.” – Scott Wopata, Incoming Northfield Community Development Director at the 11/4/2025 City Council Meeting
Tune in next Wednesday at 8:40am when Wopata will join in us studio to discuss the new role and provide any updates at the CAC. He will begin in the new role in December.
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