Locally Grown Northfield

The people, issues, and events of Northfield, MN

City Administrator Al Roder’s Friday Memo for week of Feb. 25-29

By Griff Wigley, on March 3, 2008, 6:56 am

Northfield City Administrator Al Roder publishes a memo to the mayor and city council each week on Friday. It summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of his web page.

See his Friday memo for last week and then comment or ask questions about it here.

See the Northfield city calendar for public meetings that are scheduled this week.

NOTE: There a city council meeting tonight. See the agenda.

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What’s up with the Northfield Fire Department? (60)
- Griff Wigley: Kathie, What are the FFs’ issues that have not been heard? They all had a chance to talk individually to Soldo and long before that, several spoke against the reorganization plan to the Council. They’ve been listened to,...
- Griff Wigley: In comment #26 above, Jane Moline wrote: Our fire deparment does not deserve the these attacks that appeart to be motivated by an administration that is empire-building to go along with a Taj-Mahal safety center. Jane, I’ve...
- Griff Wigley: Kiffi, City Administrator Tim Madigan explains the City’s ISO rating on KYMN’s show back on Dec. 7, 2011. The ISO rating doesn’t take into account many of the issues raised in Soldo’s report. The number of OSHA...
- Griff Wigley: As far as I can tell, Public Safety Director Mark Taylor first used the term “road map” or “roadmap” in his June 28, 2011 memo to the Mayor and Council for their Work Session on the same day. The packet for...
- Griff Wigley: Here’s the so-called ‘gag order’ memo from Public Safety Director Mark Taylor, directed to all Firefighters on April 2, 2011 before they were interviewed by the consultant Michelle Soldo: Read between the lines of...
To India and Back: Tickets on sale now for Rotary’s Youth Exchange fundraiser (2)
- Vicki Dilley: How many lives can we even begin to count that have touched by the Youth Exchange program? Northfield has been involved in Youth Exchange since 1969 when we hosted our first student…since then 100′s of High School...
- Tom Durkin: This event supports one of the crown jewels of the Northfield Rotary Club – the Youth Exchange Program. Northfield can be proud that we send out more than fifteen students annually for year abroad study programs. We also host several...
Shannon Hyland-Tassava reading Feb. 15 at Monkey See Monkey Read (1)
- Griff Wigley: Shannon has a blog titled Mama in Wonderland: notes on the chaos and delight of mothering two small girls.
Northfield needs more beaches (5)
- john george: Kathie- I knew I was sticking my neck out on that one!
- Kathie Galotti: Geez John. Don’t get Griff restarted on the geese!
- john george: Yes, more beaches would certainly accomodate more geese. We have to remember to be waterfowl friendly.
- Susan Hvistendahl: I totally agree with you re the need for more beaches in Northfield, having just returned from a week in Puerto Vallarta. Could have had rum punches there but….well, after we visited a local tequila distillery and got to...
- Bright Spencer: Oh, you both look so happy! Thanks for sharing. More pics please!
CRWP photo contest results (10)
- kiffi summa: Griff: whither goest thy right arm if it starts to “whither” (sic) ? sorry; couldn’t resist… stuck at home with a bad knee provides way too much time on computer!
- Bright Spencer: i’ve been looking thru a site, crazyguyonabike.com that has lots of journals and photos from around the world.
- jane fenton: Congrats, Griff! That’s my son Cliff in the orange hat. He’s revamped the recycling bin prototype. You should see it!
- Griff Wigley: Don, I’ll keep ping pong in mind. I’d hate to have my right arm start to whither from a lack of racquetball. In the meantime, I’m trying to excite as many Northfielders as I can about mountain biking. I’ll...
- john george: Griff- Iris will have to work real hard to keep you in focus on everything else. I shutter to think where this could go.
Something cool is coming soon to the old Digs space on Division (5)
- Griff Wigley: Name: The Local Joint Description: A handmade and vintage collective in Northfield, MN. COLLECTING.CREATING.COLLABORAT ING. Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheLoc alJoint Nfld News: Store to open in former ‘digs’ space
- David Beimers: Hmmm… fans? air conditioners? ice cream?
- Jessica Paxton: I know. But I don’t wanna spill the (cool) beans!
- jane fenton: a kite store?
- Myrna Mibus: I know! At least I’m pretty sure I know. But I’ll wait to see if someone else has a guess before saying more.
Author Ed Conlon helps the Wigleys survive a power outage on Vieques (1)
- Bright Spencer: nice waterscape shot!
Northfield coworking gathering is Tuesday, Jan. 31 (2)
- Megan Tsui: Edward, Sorry you weren’t able to attend. We’ll be posting notes from the meeting on the NEC website and if you send me your email, I’ll make sure you get a copy! If you (or anyone else!) would like to chat about it...
- Edward Smith: I wanted to attend this, but was unable. Does anyone know if there will be a summary posted anywhere?
Are Northfield schools helping to make students climate literate? (1)
- Kathie Galotti: My kid had a pretty decent AP Environmental Science class 2 years ago….he’s not a great math/science student, but this one got him interested in at least knowing enough science to create good policies. I remember...
Even if you exercise, it may not matter if you sit too much (4)
- Paul Zorn: A few years ago one of my daughters spent a year working in Copenhagen, largely in an office setting. All desks in her office could be raised or lowered to permit either standing or sitting positions. I have no idea whether such...
- Griff Wigley: In today’s Strib: Office-dwellers stand up to ‘sitting disease’ Dr. James Levine has reviewed the statistics: One in three Minnesota adults is either diabetic or pre-diabetic, and one in four is obese. And he thinks...
Can hockey, the sport I used to love, be saved? (31)
- Bright Spencer: The All Pro Game last Sunday between the AFC and the NFC was so enjoyable. The stess, the anger, the anxiety all gone…well I didn’t watch all of it, as I rarely do watch an entire game, usually just the beginning and...
- Griff Wigley: Today’s Strib: Hockey safety goal expanded to youth In an unprecedented mid-year change, Minnesota Hockey is toughening the penalties for checking from behind and boarding. The change will affect 40,000 hockey players in the...
- Bright Spencer: I like hockey and all sports very much. I was a star basketball player in my day. I don’t remember anyone suffering any major injuries in all my hs and college days. I feel certain that coach’s know who does what and...
Public humiliation, put downs, harsh treatment: Mayor Rossing & Councilors Vohs, Pownell unhappy with their colleagues (70)
- john george: You are correct. That is why I didn’t allow my children to attack the character of their siblings just to support their position. There do need to be some kind of ground rules in any discussion so as to keep individual...
- kiffi summa: The issue could be considered to be: what is “conflict”, and what are two sides of a discussion… see #33 re: the Mayor’s admonition to Peter Dahlen at the joint Council/ChartComm meeting. I don’t see how...
- john george: Kiffi- This is a good article, and I agree with most of it. Just thinking about my kids in their youth, there was always some conflict between them, but our goal as parents wasn’t to force them into some weiner form but to help...
- kiffi summa: A very interesting article in the Jan.30th New Yorker magazine on the nature of the dynamics of creative discussion; it’s entitled “Groupthink; the brainstorming myth”. Based on studies done by a psych professor at...
- Griff Wigley: Kiffi/Kathie, I didn’t have that reaction. But I’ve put up a new blog post to discuss it and everything else related to the Fire Department so let’s shift the discussion there.
The pros and cons of having Council wards and deciding about it now (15)
- Kathie Galotti: I read Betsey’s blog and, like most of Betsey’s blog entries, found it well-written and making a very good point. Though I agree that geographic districts aren’t the only way to represent different constituencies,...
- john george: Griff- The NN editorial presents the difference between geographic representation and ideological representation. Right now, the wards establish geographic representation. With this approach, depending upon the voter turnout, a person...
- kiffi summa: I hope that people will use the link here on LG to read the current posting by Councilor Buckheit on her blog, re: wards versus all at-large, and take the opportunity to comment. Once again, the NFNews has not given a very well...
- Griff Wigley: Nfld News editorial: Keep the current ward system intact
- Sean Hayford Oleary: In any case, this issue doesn’t seem like it needs to be another opportunity to dis/agree with the current council. Regardless of how focused on the downtown (or not) they are, it’s clear this change would not...
Ice circles revisited and a software/app company discovered (1)
- Brenton Balvin: Those are pretty cool.
Art plus exercise: Gretchen Falck is having a Forza! open house on Nov. 8 (1)
- Griff Wigley: In today’s NY Times: Turning to Kettlebells to Ease Back Pain Kettlebells, cast-iron weights that have been used for centuries to train Russian soldiers and athletes, appear to be a promising therapy for back and neck pain, new...
Help me Rhonda, help me get you outta my heart (1)
- Sandy Vesledahl: UPDATE ON RHONDA: We are very happy to report that Rhonda was adopted over the weekend by a local family. Rhonda’s new mom is a Family Counselor and Rhonda will be going to her office with her and helping with her clients. So...
Aldsworth Building looks ideal as a coworking space. Are there others? (12)
- Megan Tsui: Griff, The NEC is moving forward with the idea of a non-profit Coworking Incubator/Accelerator space. Megan
- Megan Tsui: What do you think? Come to the Community Dialogue and tell us! January 31st from 2 to 4 pm at the Archer House lower level conference room. Share your ideas, thoughts, and dreams about a Coworking Incubator/Accelerator space in...
Downtown Northfield hit with another graffiti outbreak (10)
- kiffi summa: I would hope the City’s Historic Preservation Commission would explore this option, and the appropriateness/allowability for use on properties within the Historic District. Thanks, Jim.
- Jim Haas: I was reading a story by Porter Fox about his visit to Copenhagen. He mentioned in passing that the city is vigilant about removing graffiti using high-pressure washers with ice crystals as a mild abrasive. I did a little rudimentary...
Randy Jennings excoriates the City Council for its economic development practices (42)
- kiffi summa: The LWV observer reports are meant to be a summary of actions taken, not a ‘blow by blow’ transcript. This is the reason that anyone deeply interested should watch the meeting for themself, if they want a full...

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City Administrator Al Roder’s Friday Memo for week of Feb. 25-29

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