Category Archives: Government

City, County, Township admin & issues

The City of Northfield Friday Memo — whassup, Joel?

November 17, 2008 – 6:50 am

It’s been two weeks since the last Friday Memo. Has Joel been kidnapped?
The Friday Memo, written by interim Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
Although it’s directed to the mayor and city council, it’s helpful for citizens [...]

By Griff Wigley | Comments (0)

EDA talks about trust between elected officials and paid staff

November 13, 2008 – 6:25 pm

A discussion about the role of Northfield’s City Council versus the city’s paid staff in decision-making emerged during the Economic Development Authority meeting on Thursday morning.
The topic came up when the board members addressed the process of building a new municipal liquor store to replace the old one on Fifth Street.
“This is a political hot [...]

By Bonnie Obremski | Also posted in RepJ Stories | Comments (77)

Podcast: Councilor-elect Rhonda Pownell

November 13, 2008 – 6:21 am

Our guest this week: Rhonda Pownell, new Councilor for the City of Northfield for the two-year At-Large seat.
She expects to take her seat in early December, as interim At-Large Councilor Dixon Bond has announced he’ll resign his seat early.
We were joined in the studio by Jesse Woodson James.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes. You [...]

By Griff Wigley | Also posted in Podcasts | Comments (1)

Northfield bumps up offer a second time

November 11, 2008 – 6:23 pm

Update log: 11/12 8 p.m.
Click here to download a PDF file of the most recent draft of the annexation proposal
Brian O’Connell, Northfield’s community development director, offered to extend the amount of time the city would pay tax reimbursement fees to Greenvale Township during an annexation negotiation meeting on Wednesday night.
But, the township’s supervisors said they [...]

By Bonnie Obremski | Also posted in RepJ Stories | Comments (0)

City Boards and Commissions: Opportunities to Serve

November 10, 2008 – 12:43 pm

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Community | Comments (4)

Photo album: fiber optic open house

November 7, 2008 – 11:16 am

It was a full house for last night’s Fiber Optic Feasibility Study open house at Northfield City Hall. Melissa Reeder, IT director for the City of Northfield, hosted the meeting, with the presentation by Doug Dawson, the fiber feasibility consultant from CCG Consulting.
See Melissa’s comments on the meeting. I’ve closed comments on this blog post [...]

By Griff Wigley | Also posted in Photos, Technology | Comments (0)

Why is the new kiosk going to waste?

November 6, 2008 – 8:58 am

I drove by the new Water St. pedestrian promenade (I like that name better than ‘Sesquicentennial Legacy Plaza’) yesterday and noticed that the new kiosk is not being used.
The Harvest sculpture dedication is still promoted on the south side of the kiosk. The north side only has a downtown directory poster.

Why isn’t there a [...]

By Griff Wigley | Comments (24)

Podcast: election 2008 post-mortem

November 6, 2008 – 6:53 am

No, we weren’t consuming alcoholic beverages in the KYMN studio yesterday while recording our post-election show/podcast.
But you’ll probably think so after listening to us.
Cheers!

Click play to listen. 30 minutes. You can also subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes.
Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Wednesdays at 5:30 PM [...]

By Griff Wigley | Also posted in Podcasts | Comments (2)

“Chicks Rule” in local races

November 4, 2008 – 10:55 pm

‘Nuff said. Or maybe I should add, “It’s about time.”
See full results on MN Sec’y of State website

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Community, Elections | Comments (3)

Beavers handing it to the City

November 1, 2008 – 5:46 am

Spring Creek flows under Jefferson Parkway at Prairie Street, forming 3 ponds in Spring Creek Park north of the parkway. (Click photos to enlarge.) A walking/bike path surrounds the pond with a footbridge over the creek at the north end of the area. See the screenshot of the Google satellite view with the arrow [...]

By Griff Wigley | Also posted in Environment | Comments (5)

Much Ado About Autos

October 31, 2008 – 4:00 pm

An recent op-ed the Sacramento Bee had an interesting angle on some of the traffic and transportation issues facing many parts of the U.S., including Northfield.

We’re stuck with the landscape we’ve built over the past 60 years, much of which is literally uninhabitable without a car. Trying to make our communities less car-dependent simply by [...]

By Tracy Davis | Also posted in Community, Environment, Health, Transportation & Streets | Comments (8)

Podcast: Melissa Reeder on city-wide fiber optic feasibility, Nov. 6 open house

October 30, 2008 – 7:37 am

We spent the first half of this week’s show discussing the flood of charges from area prosecutors aimed at 1) a group of eight alleged heroin dealers; 2) Mayor Lee Lansing, and 3) Victor Summa.
The rest of the show was devoted to the upcoming Fiber Optic Feasibility Study and the City’s Nov. [...]

By Griff Wigley | Also posted in Podcasts | Comments (4)

Mayor Lee Lansing charged with misconduct, conflict of interest

October 29, 2008 – 3:34 pm

The Northfield News reported an hour ago, Lansing charged in Goodhue investigation:

Mayor Lee Lansing was charged today with five counts of misconduct by a public official and two counts of conflict of interest by a public official. The charges stem from a 16-month-long investigation by Goodhue County initially begun by former Northfield Police Chief [...]

By Griff Wigley | Comments (72)

MNDOT installs a ’soils cap’ at The Crossing

October 29, 2008 – 6:25 am

 
The grading and clean-up at 2nd and Hwy 3 corner of The Crossing is being done by MNDOT.  Brian O’Connell, City of Northfield Community Development Director, had this blurb in last week’s Friday Memo:
The Community Development Director and the City Engineer met with representatives of the MnDOT, MPCA, Mendota Homes, and the City’s legal counsel [...]

By Griff Wigley | Also posted in Businesses | Comments (2)

The City of Northfield Friday Memo for week of October 20-24, 2008

October 27, 2008 – 8:40 am

The Friday Memo, written by interim Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
Although it’s directed to the mayor and city council, it’s helpful for citizens to see what’s going, too. The Friday memos are published and archived [...]

By Griff Wigley | Comments (0)