Brian O’Connell, Northfield community development director, and Joel Walinski, interim city administrator, discussed the remaining details of a proposed annexation agreement with Greenvale Township‘s three supervisors for more than an hour on Tuesday night.
In the accompanying video, O’Connell and Walinski are on the left side of the table. Township supervisors Robert Winter, Bernard Budin and Chairman Richard Moore are on the right (Moore is the furthest in the background). The woman at the end of the table is Edith Nelson, the township’s secretary.
The annexation agreement, among other things, indicates how much Northfield would reimburse Greenvale for the property taxes the township will lose when 530 acres of undeveloped farmland goes onto the city’s tax rolls. Northfield is annexing the land to attract industrial developers.
The discussion led to two clarifications in the draft of the agreement. Walinski said he will release a copy of the final draft of the annexation agreement in his memo on Friday. The first clarification, which is shown in the video, addresses Greenvale’s request to prohibit Northfield from annexing any more of the township’s land for a period of five years following the current annexation deal.
O’Connell and Walinski said, in order to keep with the goals of Northfield’s comprehensive plan, they would not prohibit annexation across the next five years, but agreed to a restriction that Greenvale landowners who petition the city for annexation within that period must get written consent from the owners of every neighboring property.
The next clarification had to do with how Northfield will calculate its tax reimbursement payment to Greenvale. The proposed payment plan would reimburse Greenvale in the amount of about $3,854 a year for five years. That figure is the amount of money Greenvale currently collects in taxes on the property. According to the agreement, the reimbursement amount would change year-to-year as the property tax rate changes. In the sixth year, Northfield would pay a “balloon payment” that would equal 20 more years of annual payments. In all, Northfield would pay Greenvale about $96,362, using today’s property tax rate figure.
At Tuesday’s meeting, O’Connell and Walinski said the city would calculate the balloon payment by using a tax rate figure equal to the average of tax rates in the previous five years.
At the end of the meeting, the Northfield and Greenvale representatives agreed to allow their respective lawyers to look at the final draft of the agreement before signing the document. Three Greenvale residents attending the meeting said they were not completely satisfied with the way their supervisors negotiated the annexation agreement. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 19 in the Township Hall on Guam Avenue.
By Bonnie Obremski, on December 16, 2008, 10:26 pm
Note: This is a story in progress. Please see my bulleted questions in green and help me move the story forward. I would like commenters to write the question(s) they are addressing into their post. You might want to join the existing conversation on this topic. I’m excited to read about what people have to say! Please email me directly at RepJNorthfield@gmail.com if you would rather not post publicly.
“With the number of people who care about the city, and with the educational resources available, you’ve got a lot of potential for doing good work,” Mike Wassenaar, of the Saint Paul Neighborhood Network, told me on Tuesday.
Wassenaar said he learned Northfield Television (NTV) is operating on a bare-bones budget by reading the article about the matter posted on LocallyGrownNorthfield.org. Wassenaar is an individual member of the Alliance for Community Media and he volunteers some of histime to help other public access stations around the nation.
“It’s important for us in Minnesota that places like Northfield actually do well,” Wassenaar said. “If they don’t do well, people start saying, ‘Oh well, this isn’t really worthwhile, so it isn’t worth investing in.’ And that can lead to changing the laws so that these types of resources aren’t available anymore.”
Wassenaar said he wanted to talk to Paul Hager, NTV’s founder and president, and come up with a few ways to improve the station, with or without additional funding
After I talked to Wassenaar, I called Hager, who said he would be willing to speak with Wassenaar about those ideas. Hager agreed that Wassenaar’s offer to help seemed like good news.
Wassenaar said he believed NTV could use more than the $30,000 a year it receives now from the city-managed Cable TV Fund to make significant improvements its facility and potentially hire staff.
Wassenaar said he acknowledges, however, the differences in size between the Saint Paul network and NTV. His network, he said, has 52,000 subscribers and receives $2.5 million in cable franchise fee revenue a year. The network also receives $800,000 a year from the fee cable companies pay for communities to produce educational and government programming.
Wassenaar said Hager’s proposed model of creating a pool of money to provide “micro-grants” to citizens to produce content for the station has worked in other communities. He said he could also share some other ideas about business models.
“It’s awfully hard to run something that only has a virtual presence,” Wassenaar said, referencing the little-used NTV station on Division Street and lack of paid staff. “You need a place for people to go to.”
As one way to attract more people to visit the station, Wassenaar said he might be able to connect NTV with larger stations in the city suburbs that could donate equipment. Wassenaar said NTV might develop its presence in places around Northfield where people regularly visit to participate in community events, such as a recreational center or at Saint Olaf or Carleton colleges.
Wassenaar said he would also help NTV explore the possibilities of asking people to support the station as members.
In one of our earlier conversations, Hager said it could be difficult asking cable TV customers for more money than they are already paying in subscriber fees to support the station.
Wassenaar said the larger community, not just cable viewers, directly benefit from the services his network provides, however. For example, he said, the network once produced a show about a local clinic, and then gave a copy of the show to the clinic to use as an educational tool. He said the network also provides youth programming.
As another funding source, Wassenaar said, the network has sought grants from other organizations.
I wonder what organizations or individuals would consider becoming members of NTV?
Wassenaar said he would also be willing to help inform government officials and the general public about what a well-supported public access station can offer to a community.
What would it take for NTV to thrive in Northfield?
Note 12/17 9:45 a.m.: I corrected the spelling of the word “network” at the bottom of the thirteenth paragraph.
The Representative Journalism Project is nearing its five-month anniversary and my collaborators and I could not thank the people of Northfield enough for all the support they have offered so far.
We’re hoping those supporters might chime in now and let us know what parts of the project seem to be working and what parts still need refinement.
One change I am determined to make this week is in how I introduce stories, document their development and finally present them to readers. I would like to gather more input from a wider spectrum of people, and do more to show them my reporting and writing process, before I produce a finished piece of work.
Now, when I put up a part of a story to introduce a topic, I would like to see readers help me put together the next part of that story for the following day, and so on until finally, I write a feature-length article that one might see in a magazine or newspaper.
In the evolution phase of story development, I want to be more informal about presenting the information I update day-to-day. I want people to know more about how and when I got the information, and what thoughts ran through my head as I received it.
I hope the increased transparency and opportunity for public participation will improve the quality of my stories and distinguish Representative Journalism as a truly different and valuable way for a community to learn about itself.
Please answer the questions below to help us know how we’re doing. If you prefer, email your responses to RepJNorthfield@gmail.com. Thank you!
What parts of the Representative Journalism Project do you value? What parts don’t work?
How can we further refine the project into something Northfield citizens value more?
How could Representative Journalism support itself financially in a community?
Note: This is a story in progress. Please see my bulleted questions in green and help me move the story forward. I would like commenters to write the question(s) they are addressing into their post. I’m excited to read about what people have to say! Please email me directly at RepJNorthfield@gmail.com if you would rather not post publicly.
Photo by Josh Rowan. A letter "N," once part of a downtown supermarket sign, now stands for "NTV" in the entryway of the station.
Paul Hager, who is NTV’s founder and president, told me on Thursday that Northfield Community Television (NTV), which is an independent public access station on Channel 12, is operating on a “lights-on” budget these days.
I asked Hager what “lights-on budget” meant. He replied, saying NTV receives $2,500 a month from the franchise-fee revenue sitting in the city’s Cable TV Fund. That amount, which totals $30,000 a year, is enough to pay rent, insurance, utility bills and a modest salary for him to produce some content and air some governmental meetings. He has no employees and about 10 volunteers who regularly produce content for the non-profit organization.
The station is on the second floor of 309 Division Street View Larger Map, which is under the relatively new ownership of JB Enterprises. Hager said he is optimistic the new owners will repair the building very soon. In the past two years, he said, the station has been uncomfortable to use because of heating and cooling problems. But, he said, most people now produce video at home and give him a digital file. The station houses the public access channel’s video equipment. Hager does not keep regular hours at the station, but the public can contact him via NTV’s Web site. Phone: 507-645-6917. Email: NTV@charter.net.
As an example of the kind of programming NTV airs daily, the schedule for Dec. 15 included:
I wondered why the city government isn’t allocating as much money to NTV as it used to.
I also wondered what the general public thinks of NTV.
What does the station bring to the community?
Could NTV do more, even with its small budget?
Should the community show more support for the station?
Have other forms of information sharing, such as the Internet, replaced the need for public access television?
What is the Cable TV Fund?
Cable systems have offered access channels to the public since the 1970s so that people could make programs for others in their own communities, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications Web site.
I first learned the basics of the Cable TV Fund by reading an article Jaci Smith, managing editor of the Northfield News, wrote on Nov. 28., which had the headline, “Cable fund holds wealth of possibilities.” Smith said city governments collect two kinds of fees from cable television companies and that money flows into the Cable TV Fund. The cable company serving Northfield is Charter Communications. There is currently about $766,000 in the Cable TV Fund.
One kind of fee is called a franchise fee. Time Warner Cable’s Web site gives a brief overview of the rules of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984.
“The franchise fee is intended to compensate a community for the cable operator’s use of the local rights-of-way, and to offset any costs associated with administering the local cable franchise,” the Web site reads.
A city government can use the franchise fees to pay for any public service. According to Smith’s article, cable companies pay Northfield about $100,000 a year in franchise fees.
In addition to franchise fees, cable companies also pay a fee that a city government can use only for purposes of public education and government (PEG) programming. Smith reported PEG fees total up to $15,000 a year.
Deb Little, the department manager for the City Clerk’s Office, said she could help me find out how much money in the Cable TV fund is from franchise fees and how much is from PEG fees by the end of the week.
Additionally, I asked what PEG fees are paying for now, if anything. Little said she would have to research that, too.
Kathleen McBride, Northfield’s Financial Director, said most recently, the city government used that money to install a new video recording system in the City Council’s chambers. The work on the nearly $100,000 equipment upgrade finished in 2007.
Why does NTV receive less funding than in the past?
The $30,000 NTV receives a year is less than half what the fund used to provide NTV in the 1990s, Hager told me. The station has been around since the 1985. I wondered about the dramatic decrease and how it had affected the quality of the station, if at all. I don’t own a television and so have never watched the station’s programming.
Scott Davis, a city council member who has worked to define the relationship between city government and the station in the past, told me on Friday that changes in state law led to the decrease in funds. Davis did not have time to explain further because I visited him in his photography studio on Bridge Square and he had a client waiting.
I did not find a copy of the Minnesota statue online that could apply to the matter. So I am still searching for more information about how the law changed and how it affected contracts between the city government and NTV.
I did have time to ask Davis if there were any other reasons why the city government might have cut NTV’s funding, such as NTV not providing enough of a service in exchange for the money. Davis said that was not the reason.
Hager told me that all he knew about it was that, a few years ago, the cable company and city government did not renew a contract that outlined how much PEG fee and/or franchise fee revenue could go to NTV. For a time, NTV operated without a contract and ran on savings and the city government paid no funds to the station, Hager told me. In 2005, the City Council decided to allot the $30,000 a year in franchise fee revenue to keep the operation running.
Photo by Josh Rowan. Paul Hager stands in one of the station's studios on Monday.
Should we change how public access television works?
Hager had asked for more than renewed funding at that time, however.
He had come up with a four-page proposal to make dramatic changes in the way NTV worked.
The summary bullet points of his proposal are:
The primary attraction of public access television has been erased by changes in technology. It is time to re-think the model for public access.
We could capitalize on the digital technology revolution that has created a visual storyteller in every household that has a video camcorder.
We can and should provide a modest financial incentive to spur production of community programming.
We must create a higher level of visibility for public access and invite local institutions to take an active role in creating programming.
The proposal sounded to me like an interesting model, not wholly unlike the goals of the Representative Journalism project.
Davis said one of the reasons Hager’s proposal never went into action is because the City Council has a lot to do. When the council decided to renew some funding to the station, it considered the situation fixed for at least a little while, he said. Davis compared it to patching a crack in a window. The window still isn’t a good window, Davis said, but you can live with it.
In addition, Davis said Hager’s proposal relied a lot on individuals who would be willing to work as videographers in exchange for a small amount of grant money and there might not be enough people willing to perform such work.
I could see his point, but I’m wondering how many other people would feel the same way.
Davis said the new members of City Council and the new mayor might revisit the city’s relationship with NTV in the coming years, but the struggling economy might now present another obstacle to further funding or attention.
At that, I wondered how many people might deem the station undeserving of any funds in the near future. In tough times, some people might think that $30,000 a year could be better spent on something else.
As a journalist, I shuddered at the thought of another of America’s independent, information-distribution services closing down. However, I also believe that those services do have to learn how to better compete for attention in order to survive.
I put in a request for data at city hall on Friday to take a look at all the contracts the city has had with NTV over the years. I plan to share that information here so we can better see what kind of service NTV has provided to Northfield over the years.
Should the city government control public access television?
Smith quoted McBride in her article about the Cable TV fund, saying, “McBride said she recommends using only part of the money so that if the city does decide to get into the public access broadcasting business it has the startup funds to do so,” Smith wrote.
I asked McBride via email to expand on what Smith reported.
McBride wrote, “It would be a Council decision – and while I’m not close to the process (at all!) – I do think there is interest in starting a public access function – where we would buy the equipment and hire a company or employees to run it.”
I haven’t heard any of the City Council’s discussions on the matter, but I’m confused about why the council would consider making city workers take on the public access station responsibilities. I imagine there could be cost savings but I’m not sure how. I wonder, too, if the city would cease to fund NTV altogether, and what would become of the station in that situation?
Hager pointed out that if the city government controlled the station, and someone produced something controversial, the government would then have control over when to air the program (perhaps during a time when no one would watch it). Right now, Hager has ultimate control of the programming schedule.
But are people producing content that challenges the government, or any other institution for that matter? Would they if Hager’s proposed model were adopted?
Update: 12/15 7 p.m: I forgot to put Kathleen McBride’s full name and title when I first referenced her in the story, so I fixed it.
Also, I wanted to note that you can still borrow a camcorder and tripod from NTV and use the station’s editing equipment to produce video content for the station.
I found this photograph of Peterson though an Internet search. When I visited him, he had a crew cut and his hair was blonder. He had no lip ring or earrings.
Peterson is facing one first-degree charge of selling heroin, two second-degree charges of selling and one count of possessing heroin.
His bail is set at $100,000 and he has been in jail since the last week of October, when the Rice County Drug Task Force arrested Peterson and seven other young people for suspected heroin dealing.
Peterson said he probably could not say much about his case, and he kept that resolve throughout our conversation.
I sensed that he still wanted to talk, but that could have been because I kept thinking how a visit with two nosy strangers (my fiance Josh Rowan was with me) might be the most interesting part of his day.
Peterson looked me in the eye. He didn’t move from his chair or take the telephone from his ear as he looked at me from behind the soundproof glass. He wore a gray sweatshirt beneath his orange jumpsuit. Josh and I, wearing our thick, winter coats, barely fit in the visitor’s booth across from him. There was one other booth next to ours in the tiny concrete room. There, a man told another prisoner he looked tired and asked if he was getting any sleep.
“Not really,” that prisoner replied.
I struggled to think of a question Peterson might be able to answer. I told Peterson I had spoken with some of his friends. I told him they said they still cared about him very much.
“How’s it going for you in there?” I asked.
“Not good,” he said. “Everyone thinks I’m this big drug dealer but…” he trailed off, looking downward and shaking his head.
“How does it feel, when you’re up there in court, in front of people?” I asked.
“Embarrassing,” he replied.
Peterson’s next pre-trial hearing date is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 1:30 p.m. in the Rice County District Court.
Before I left, Peterson made a suggestion. He told me to write him a letter with a list of questions and he would write back.
“It would give me a chance to respond more wisely,” he said.
I would like to know what questions the readers here would like me to include in my letter to Peterson. When and if he replies, I will post Peterson’s response on the blog.
The Representative Journalism Project founded in Northfield, Minn. could see more nationwide support after project collaborators Bonnie Obremski and Bill Densmore facilitated a discussion about the initiative last week at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo. The noontime “Lunchstorm” session was a part of a three-day conference centered around another experimental project called Information Valet, which Densmore is working on at the university.
The video below is an edited version of the hour-long talk during which media professionals from around the nation and students from the university’s top-ranked journalism school grilled Obremski and Densmore about RepJ’s progress and future plans.
One of the only unanswered questions was how the RepJ project would gain financial support from community members who are willing to invest in the next generation of community journalism. However, the founders of the Banyan Project and Kachingle.com made some interesting suggestions.
Tom Stites of the Banyan Project suggested a co-op style funding method, or to simply “put out the tip jar” to see what would happen. Kachingle, founder Cynthia Typaldos explained, would be a way for Web site owners everywhere to easily solicit funds from fans. In essence, “Kachinglers” sign up to donate $5 per month toward the sites they would like to support most. To distribute some of the $5 to a site, the Kachingler pushes the Kachingle button installed on the site. Typaldos would like to launch Kachingle in January.
In the video, the questions asked appear in type at the bottom of the screen while Obremski and Densmore answer them.
(Update log 12/2 11:30 a.m.)One Northfield resident is concerned the City Council could dismiss a good opportunity for a new liquor store location because it would lie beyond the area specified in September’s request for proposals.
Virginia Gleason of Oak Street proposed to sell the city a nearly 50,000-square-foot vacant lot across from Target on State Highway 3 for just $1. Her son, James Gleason, also of Oak Street, helped his mother with the proposal and he said he wants the general public to know about the offer.
“Our family has been in Northfield forever and we made the offer because we’d just really like to get ‘er done,” James Gleason said on Monday.
The site, which has been for sale for about six years, does not appear to fulfill at least one of the minimum requirements set by the City Council and members of the city’s staff in September.
That requirement is that the property lie “in an area which is currently or proposed to be zoned C-1 or C-2 in the City of Northfield zoning code or located in a area zoned C3 within one quarter mile of an area zoned C-1 or C-2.” The property is zoned as C-3, which is a “gateway commercial district” and is nearly a mile* from the nearest C-2 district, which is the “downtown fringe district.” C-1 is the “downtown district.” (*I checked the zoning maps online again and it appears the site would actually be a little more than a mile from a C-2 district).
James Gleason said he learned by reading a Representative Journalism story online that officials began to consider five proposals via a scoring process two weeks ago and his was not among them. Gleason said city officials had yet to tell him whether his proposal had been rejected or to return his $1,000 “good faith” deposit.
Brian O’Connell, Northfield’s Community Development Director, said the City Council would still review Gleason’s proposal and that the proposal was still one of seven listed on a scoresheet that the council and staff designed to collect input from four knowledgeable groups of people.
The members of one of the groups, however, said on Monday that they scored only five proposals two weeks ago. Steve Engler and Victor Summa said Gleason’s proposal and another submitted by A.K. Kayoum were not on the list because staff members took them off. Engler and Summa represented the Economic Development Authority’s Infill Committee. Joel Walinski, interim city administrator, said he could not comment about how many proposals were on the scoresheets that Engler and Summa completed.
Gleason said he would not want to ask the City Council to make any decision that would result in a detriment to the city’s downtown. He said he believed building a new liquor store on the site his family proposed could be the most lucrative for the city.
Councilor Scott Davis, who represents the City Council at Economic Development Authority meetings along with Councilor James Pokorney, did not return a phone call or email message about the matter by Tuesday morning.
Update 12/2 11:30 a.m.: Griff Wigley uploaded a clearer version of the property map in the first comment below this story.
The images below show the five sites the Economic Development Authority’s Infill Committee rated two weeks ago. The first shows a lot on Water Street with two buildings, the second shows a lot on the “Q-Block” and a lot on the property across the street from the “Q-Block” where The Crossing residential building lies, the third building is on Division Street, the final photo shows a residential lot on the southern end of Water Street (Note 12/2 12 p.m.: the final photo is of a residence built in a Downtown Fringe district).
Photo by Josh Rowan Students displayed "Elephant in the Room" in Buntrock Commons to draw attention to alcohol consumption on the "dry" campus.
Members of the Saint Olaf College community have been talking about underage binge drinking this month after a student wrote a column titled, “Hi, my name is Ole and I’m an alcoholic” in the student paper, and after a group of students collected enough liquor bottles and beer cans strewn around the campus (which has a “dry” policy) to construct a Volkswagen-sized sculpture in the student center.
“We have a pretty articulated policy that alcohol is not allowed on campus, and that applies to faculty and students,” Greg Kneser, vice president and dean of students, said last week, “That doesn’t mean everybody abides by it.”
Kneser said consequences for breaking the policy can range from the offender to pay $25 to complete a 90-minute program called “My Student Body” to expulsion, after multiple offenses. He said administrators also address a student’s behavior if Northfield residents or police catch him or her doing something inappropriate off campus.
Kneser said he does not believe the amount of problems associated with Saint Olaf students drinking on or off campus has changed in the 20 years he has worked at the school.
He guessed that the only change might exist in the attitude students and parents have about alcohol. They could be less conservative today, he said. So he believed there could be a greater percentage of underage students now who have at least tried alcohol.
City officials have ordered David Lansing to dismantle a structure that houses Christmas trees on the Division Street property where his family operates a decorative plant-selling business.
Dan Olson, staff liaison to the Planning Commission, said in an email on Monday that David Lansing had a permit for outdoor sales and for a temporary greenhouse-type structure at 600 Division St. from April until Sept. 30, 2008.
“The outdoor sales persisted after that date, and we worked with David and his father Mayor Lee Lansing, who was given power-of-attorney to discuss the matter with the city, to halt the sales and remove the temporary structure,” Olson said. “The Lansings halted the sales they had previously undertaken, but did not remove the temporary structure. The matter was turned over to the city’s prosecuting attorney, Tim Morisette. Mr. Morisette has given the Lansings until Wednesday to remove the structure.
The Mayor did not return a message to his cell phone by 4:30 p.m.
Update 11/24 6 p.m.: I added a comma after Mr. Olson’s title and the word “that” in the first sentence of the second paragraph to correct the sentence structure. I changed “Lansing’s” to “Lansings’” to correct the grammar. Mr. Olson wrote “Lansing’s” in his email response to me originally.
Update 11/25 1 p.m. I apologize for yet another grammatical mix-up! Lansings’ should be Lansings.
Victor Summa and Steve Engler, members of the Northfield Economic Development Authority (EDA), reviewed five municipal liquor store proposals at 3 p.m. on Thursday and scored them on 28 criteria, which were devised by City Council and city staff.
Click play to listen to the EDA’s discussion on the liquor store proposals. 23 minutes.
Jody Gunderson, the authority’s director, also scored the proposals. Last week, officials expected to score seven proposals, but two ultimately did not meet the requirements listed in the request for proposals document.
Late on Thursday, Engler said he found the scoring process much simpler than he anticipated. City Councilor James Pokorney said on Friday the score sheets are just one tool the City Council expects to use in making its decision about which proposal is best.
The four members of the Economic Development Authority met at 7:30 a.m. Thursday to talk about which members would fill out the score sheets. Originally, members Rick Estenson and Marty Benson had volunteered to fill out the sheets, since they are also members of an EDA subcommittee called the infill development committee.
However, the city’s attorney determined Estenson and Benson had a conflict of interest in the matter because each works for one of the city’s banks. Those banks have a financial interest in some of the proposed liquor store sites. The proposed locations are: 618 Division Street; the property containing The Crossing residential building off State Highway 3; the “Q-Block” off Highway 3; the southwest corner of Fifth and Water Streets; and 717 South Water Street.
Three other groups are expected to fill out score sheets. There is a city staff group comprising Joel Walinski, interim city administrator; Brian O’Connell, community development director; and Steve DeLong, liquor store manager. Donnelly Development representatives form a second group and Northfield Enterprise Center representatives form a third.
During the Economic Development Authority’s morning meeting, Engler and Summa asked some questions about the proposal scoring process.
Engler asked if there would be someone present during the scoring meeting who could answer any questions he had about the criteria. He said, for example, he had little knowledge of how to judge the quality of stormwater systems.
Gunderson said he believed Joel Walinski could attend the meeting and answer questions. Engler said later Walinski did not attend but DeLong did and he provided some information.
Estenson told Engler if he felt he could not give a good opinion on any particular item, he should simply not give an opinion.
Summa asked if Donnelly Development representatives and DeLong could also present conflicts of interest.
The request for proposals document reads: “The City of Northfield has retained Donnelly Development to provide real estate services throughout the municipal liquor store development process. Accordingly, please provide for a seller-paid fee equal to three percent of the purchase price of the land and/or a $4 per square foot fee on a lease of 10 years. For lease proposals greater or less than a 10-year term, please adjust on a prorated basis.”
Victor said DeLong could also conceivably be biased since he has to work in the new liquor store. Gunderson said Walinski could have an answer to that question. However, Walinski was out of his office.
On Friday, O’Connell said staff did not ask the city’s attorney if Donnelly and DeLong could present a conflict.
“We did not see it as a problem,” he said. “The fee paid to Donnellly is to help us negotiate with the developer after we select who it is we want to go with. We’re going to do decide on a particular development project based on our criteria. As for Steve DeLong, he’s a salaried professional and he’s not going to be paid more or less based on the site we select.”
Greenvale Township’s supervisors and Northfield city officials drew closer to reaching an agreement at the end of a fifthannexation negotiation meeting at the township hall on Tuesday night.
“I think we’re looking at a win-win,” Brian O’Connell, Northfield’s community development director, said after the meeting.
O’Connell and Joel Walinski, Northfield’s interim city administrator, offered a new payment plan to reimburse Greenvale for the property taxes it will lose when 530 acres of undeveloped farmland goes onto the city’s tax rolls. Northfield would like to attract industrial developers to the site.
The proposed payment plan would reimburse Greenvale in the amount of about $3,854 a year for five years. That figure is the amount of money Greenvale currently collects in taxes on the property. In the sixth year, Northfield would pay a “balloon payment” that would equal about 20 more years of annual payments. In all, Northfield would pay Greenvale about $96,362, using today’s property tax rate figure.
That amount is significantly higher than the $7,708 figure O’Connell and Walinski presented at first, which would have met the state minimum requirement of reimbursing a township for two years.
O’Connell said Northfield could manage to budget for the balloon payment expenditure in six years. He said he thought offering Greenvale a large lump sum in the annexation deal was a good way to find “mutual ground” between the desires of both communities.
Greenvale’s three supervisors appeared happy with the offer, but said they would have to investigate if the township would be allowed by law to accept such a large lump sum of money. They also were unsure if they would be able to invest the money as they pleased.
“We might be required to use it to lower taxes,” Supervisor Robert Winter said.
O’Connell and Walinski said they would compose a new draft of the agreement while the township found out about its ability to receive large payments. Walinski said he hoped to see the annexation process complete in February. City Council will have final say on the terms of the agreement.
Northfield Mayor Joseph Lee Lansing will attend his omnibus hearing on Dec. 17 at 1:30 p.m. in Rice County District Court in Faribault. District Court Judge Warren E. Litynski set the date Wednesday afternoon after an arraignment that lasted about 10 minutes. The mayor is facing five charges of misconduct by a public official and two charges of conflict of interest by a public official. Lansing, casually dressed in jeans and a sweater, appeared in good spirits during his arraignment hearing, and chatted with people before and afterward. His attorney is Tom Dunnwald.
Note: This is an edited video of the question and answer portion of Sunday’s meeting at the Main Street Moravian Church. I edited out images of the undercover sheriff’s deputy and any audience member. I also shortened the length of some questions and stretches of silence. For a complete, audio-only recording of the meeting, follow this link.
Questions remaining:
Are the people of Northfield doing enough to help get drug users through recovery?
Why did this problem blossom in Northfield in particular?
Where does Northfield stand on a time line stretching between “higher amount of drug users” to “very few drug users?” When does that time line begin? When might it end?
An Iraqi child participates in the War Kids Relief project
A Minnesota-based non-profit is spending the next few months partnering children in New York City, Washington D.C., and Northfield with children in Iraq in an effort to build closer ties between the nations.
“We thought about Minneapolis, but decided on Northfield,” said Pam Middleton, executive director of War Kids Relief, which is a program of the Children’s Culture Connection non-profit.
Middleton will help select about two dozen eighth- and ninth-grade students across Northfield to participate. Each child needs to submit an application in school to be considered.
“Northfield is Middle America, but it’s also a special place. The citizens here are so engaged,” she said.
The children Middleton helps select will attend at least three afternoon gatherings in January, February and March at the Northfield Public Library. There, War Kids Relief organizers will help each Northfield teen begin a pen-pal kind of relationship with an Iraqi child. The youth will exchange letters, artwork and videos. The Northfield children will learn about Iraqi culture by hearing stories, playing Iraqi games and eating samples of the region’s food. Continue reading Nationwide project soliciting participation from Northfield youth
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 potato,” Steve Engler, who joined the development authority in September, said after the meeting. “I was trying to clarify who was making decisions.”
“You said this is politically charged; it shouldn’t be, it’s a liquor store,” James Pokorney, city councilor, told Engler at the meeting.
Pokorney added later that the decision might have been political at one time if the mayor had indeed done something inappropriate, but it should not be any longer.
Joel Walinski, interim city administrator, told the members of the development authority about the status of the decision to build a new liquor store. The city’s request for proposals brought in seven responses that could fit the requirements City Council set for the new store. They are still not available for public viewing.
Walinski said the Economic Development Authority’s Infill Committee, a group of city staff, the Northfield Enterprise Center and Donnelly Development will help assign points to each of the proposals that fall within the council’s requirements. The proposals with the most points would be more highly recommended. (Walinski, Brian O’Connell, community development director, and Steve DeLong, liquor store manager, would form the group of city staff).
Engler said he was unsure if it is best to keep the proposals secret from the public while the different groups review them. He also was uncertain if the City Council should take recommendations from staff when perhaps all council needs is a little more basic information about the proposals.
“Aren’t you elected to decide certain things?” Engler asked Pokorney.
Pokorney said City Council has reviewed liquor store proposals in the past but made no decision because the elected officials needed further professional assistance to feel comfortable making the right choice. He said he believed the liquor store presents an opportunity for City Council to benefit from trusting the recommendations of city staff.
“There are people who say ‘We can’t let the staff decide, they’ve got some kind of devious reasoning,’” Pokorney said after the meeting. “I’m tired of it. What we’re asking staff to do is a supportive effort, not a legislative effort. It’s what we hire them to do.”
Following the meeting, Walinski said the proposals would present City Council with a wide range of options. Some of them would allow Northfield to buy undeveloped or developed land and/or buildings and some offered to lease land or buildings. The scoring groups will rate the proposals based on cash flow opportunities and pedestrian access, among other criteria.
Update 11/14 3 p.m.: This afternoon, I made some grammatical changes to the story above.
This is the email from Mr. Walinski, which contained the score sheet attachment:
“Hello Bonnie -
I’ve attached the Liq. Store RFP Document as requested. I’ve also provided you with the Scoring Sheet we will be using to rate the proposals that were submitted. This document was previously provided to the EDA and all interested parties attending the Pre-Submission conference on October 22, 2008.
In answer to your question on the discussion at the EDA Meeting on Thursday, this was the second time this item had been discussed at a EDA Board meeting, the initial discussion was to see if there was interest from the EDA to participate ( October 23, 2008 Item 8.b). The discussion on Thursday was to provide an update on the process, reconfirm the role of the EDA Infill Committee, and make members aware of the timeline.
Regarding your other questions concerning the liquor store, the liquor store questions and planning has been ongoing for at least four years. The Council, residents through public comments, and consultants have had multiple discussions on should the City run a municipal liquor store and at this time the consensus of the council is yes – primarily for the added revenue to the general fund and funding support to support the taskforce working on the prevention of Youth Drug and Alcohol. Another reason given is the City is more in control of the sale of alcohol to minors and advertising of alcohol to minors by having a “muni”. If you need more information on this I would suggest reviewing the tapes of multiple council meetings and work sessions where this item was discussed.
In regards to using the existing store location, making the required improvements and completing the deferred maintenance, this is the base position from which the proposals submitted will be will be judged. We do have good information of the cash flow and business model at the existing site and fairly good estimates of improvements needed and costs. One of the items we will be reviewing is comparing cash flow models and costs of a new location with the existing site. The benefit of moving through an RFP process is that we now have better numbers for what a new store development, purchase of property, or leasing a location would cost given the proposal submissions This should help staff make a recommendation as per the council request. Ultimately more specific information should help the Council and general public to make an informed decision.
Photo by Joshua Rowan Guadalupe Flores Calderon manages her kitchen.
Guadalupe Flores Calderon and her business partner Yuma Gonzalez Gonzalez have seen their enterprise double in size since opening in June, Calderon said last week, and the place does not even have an outdoor sign or full menu.
Their Mexican store and deli has a name, La Vencedora, and most people are drawn into the stark-looking building by the smell of her cooking, Calderon said, or on the advice of satisfied customers.
The building’s previous tenants, a Quizno’s fast food chain and a restaurant called Wiggles and Wok, perhaps never did so well in the short time they spent near the intersection of State Highway 3 and 2nd Street* West, adjacent to the Quarterback Club, before closing. Calderon said she has had relatively few overhead costs so far. *I corrected this street address 12/10 4:30 p.m.
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 still needed time to think and could make a counter-offer.
O’Connell, who has been representing the city in negotiations along with Joel Walinski, Northfield’s interim city administrator, said on Wednesday the city could be willing to pay a fee of about $3,854.48 a year for perhaps 20 years, in an amount that would total about $77,000. Continue reading Northfield bumps up offer a second time
By Bonnie Obremski, on November 11, 2008, 11:00 am
Photo by Bonnie Obremski
Rhonda Pownell said she wasn’t surprised to come out on top in a four-way race to fill an unexpired two-year term for an at-large seat on the Northfield City Council.
“I have energy and excitement and I’m encouraging others to come along,” Pownell said over a cup of herbal tea at the Bittersweet eatery on Thursday.
She took 33 percent of the 7,112 votes cast for that seat, currently held by Dixon Bond. Bond was appointed by the council after Noah Cashman resigned from the spot in July to pursue a job opportunity and care for an ill sister. Bond may step down early to allow Pownell to begin her work this month, instead of waiting until January when newly elected officials usually begin.
Pownell’s opponents, Joseph Gasior, C. Lynn Vincent and Victor Summa, expressed some surprise at her victory this week. Pownell, 37, has no prior job experience in municipal government and she has been a member of a once much-discussed group that sits in the audience during City Council meetings to quietly pray for the city.
Northfield Police Chief Mark Taylor spoke with me this week to answer some questions about the ongoing investigation of suspected heroin dealing in the city. Unfortunately, my wireless microphone gave me some trouble and the sound quality isn’t what it usually is. The video is 12 minutes, 28 seconds long. The pauses in the conversation are when I asked my questions. Despite editing efforts today, I couldn’t boost the volume of my voice enough to be audible. But, I believe you can hear the chief just fine.
Last week, I spoke to a friend of one of Northfield’s alleged heroin dealers. Since she is 15 years old and talking about a sensitive matter, I decided to keep her name and the name of her friend anonymous, even though she gave me permission to use her name.
Photo by Joshua Rowan Annelise Hall-Holt, 4, dangles from the monkey bars at Open Door Nursery School on Tuesday morning.
Barbara Howe, director of Open Door Nursery School on West Third Street, is worried about the number of vacancies in daycares and preschools citywide.
“I think a lot of parents are having to make decisions financially,” Howe said on Tuesday. “There are things that have to go and unfortunately, nursery school is one of them.”
That business owner, Jesse Streitz, has said he might apply for one of the city’s forgivable or low-interest loan programs in the amount of about $15,500, which would offset some city-associated expenses with buying the land for the $1.9 million school project.
“It’s not that I’m against other schools coming into the city,” Howe said. “I’m trying to say that if there’s another school with a lot of openings, it could be catastrophic for those of us who are already here. So, I would just rather not see tax dollars used to assist the Goddard School in that way.”
Streitz has said Goddard School Systems administrators performed market research that shows a school would be viable in Northfield, however, and that a Goddard School franchise has yet to fail in the company’s 20-year history. Continue reading Preschool and daycare enrollment down
At least two Northfielders spent hundreds of dollars and countless hours to build front-yard attractions for neighborhood children on Halloween night
Dana Goss of Lupine Drive was one and Joshua Godfredson of Buchanan Court wan another.
Norman Butler, owner of the Contented Cow, alerted me to Goss’ attraction and Jerry Weber and Nicole Maloney of Sweet Pea’s Loft, told me about Godfredson’s display.
Butler said he believed Northfield could benefit if community leaders marketed the volunteer efforts of Northfield citizens such as Goss and Godfredson.
Goss’s family has a long-standing tradition of building a haunted maze with Jack-o-lanterns Dana Goss carves free-hand. A carving of the Headless Horseman seemed to draw the most attention from visitors this year.
Godfredson’s attraction is newer than Goss’. He and friends and family added many more rooms and moving parts to his haunted pirate ship this year. Godfredson works part-time as a professional impersonator, mimicking Hollywood actor Johnny Depp in his role as Capt. Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Hi, my name’s Ben Haynor. I’m a math and physics major at Carleton College. I ended up in a journalism class this semester and began looking at Northfield’s opiate problem. I met Bonnie on Friday and we decided to collaborate on a story. We had already been gathering information, conducting interviews and looking at the history of Northfield’s opiate problem this month. When seven were arraigned on drug charges on Monday, we felt prepared to cover the news and we were glad to have a team of two to do so.
In the coming week we’ll be talking with the authorities to learn more about the arrests, get a better sense of what problems our community still faces, and learn how police intend to continue combating problems with heroin. We’ll be speaking with police in other towns that have had similar bouts with heroin dealing to gain perspective on how a community can fight the problem. If you know more about Northfield’s opiate scene, and are willing to speak, please contact Bonnie or me at RepJNorthfield@gmail.com or haynorb@carleton.edu.
The following video is about 1.5 minutes long. It shows portions of a press conference in the Rice County District Court that took place on Monday, Oct. 27 from 2:30 p.m. to about 3:15 p.m. There were representatives from the Faribault Daily News, KYMN Radio and Carleton College and about a half-dozen other people in the audience.
Seven Rice County residents accused of dealing heroin are awaiting second hearings after arraignments at Rice County District Court on Monday morning.
Some arraignments occurred in courtroom 2, where Judge Thomas Neuville presided, and some in courtroom 3, where Judge Bernard E. Borene presided. The judges set bail of varying amounts for each of the defendants.
Alexander Bruce Benson, 19, of 300 Aster Dr., Northfield, is facing two charges of aiding and/or abetting in the sale of heroin on Sept. 29 near Greenvale Apartments on Greenvale Avenue, which is a public housing zone, and one charge of aiding and/or abetting the sale of heroin.
The apartment complex was home to Jillian Marie Wetzel, 25, who authorities determined died of an accidental heroin overdose on Aug. 23. Wetzel’s death by overdose was the most recent of five of such fatalities to occur in Northfield in the past year and a half.
Tom Kotula: Despite rumors you may have heard to the contrary, I have not thrown my hat into the ring.
Sean Hayford Oleary: I was glad to hear Erica Zweifel is running again. She’s done an excellent job and has advocated well for her ward. I’m eager to see some filings for mayor.
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Challenging our beliefs is usually a healthy thing. I would hate to see what the world would look like if we didn’t have a long history of at least occasionally challenging them. It amuses me greatly that I’ve...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Power of attorney doesn’t make you next of kin. You have to be legally kin for that. In other words, as long as DOMA is on the books, there is no legal mechanism to get that right for any purpose involving the federal...
john george: Peter- Thank you! I have enjoyed my interraction with you, also, as you demonstrate thoughtfulness, civility, and considertion in your posts. I like to engage those who do not follow the same tenets that I follow. It gives me...
john george: Peter- What about power of attorney? Anyone has the right/authority to place anyone they choose to be in charge of their affairs in case they become incapacitated. This is not limited to just those in a “marriage”...
kiffi summa: To follow up on Peter’s You Tube video recommendation, read the May 12th article in the New York Times (search archives) entitled “Harming the Troops”. Republicans on the Armed Services Committee, led by Rep. Todd...
Hayes Scriven: Griff, the money the Arts and Culture Commission got from SEMAC is to go for projects like this! That is why the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment was passed! Now, yes there are some programing projects I have heard bout that I...
Peter Seebach (Seebs): There may well be better things the money could be spent on, but there are certainly many worse things. I do think that things like this contribute to a feeling of community, and I think they dovetail nicely with the...
kiffi summa: I must wonder, Griff, what your opinion on this ”investment” is… I sense your opinion is questioning the wisdom of the expenditure; or are you just “stirring the pot”? I personally think it is a teriffic...
Jane McWilliams: Griff – I think the poetry project is a good investment. As you see from the quote below from the Streetscape Task Force page on the city web site, money comes from the Master Development Fund which is designated for...
Griff Wigley: Good turnout last night for the Cannon Valley Mountain Bike Team meeting at the high school. I’ve blogged a summary with the ppt presentations.
Griff Wigley: Jordan Osterman, the new Sports Editor for the Northfield News, scooped me on Saturday. I’m glad! Northfield high school mountain bike team forming As a club sport, mountain biking would have no official affiliation with either...
Griff Wigley: Good suggestion, Curt. I’ll do that for next week’s blurb. I have been verbally emphasizing the importance of having girls on the team, especially since their points on race days count more than boys’ points. Other...
Curt Benson: Hey Griff, I wonder if you shouldn’t put a bit more emphasis on the idea that you’re recruiting both boys and girls for this team. And that the scores for both the boys and girls make up a team score. I think that in the...
Griff Wigley: It should be noted that this team does not yet exist! So this meeting is for those student-athletes (and their parents) who might be interested in joining this new team.
Griff Wigley: Suzy Rook has a sidebar to today’s Nfld News update on last night’s Council meeting. Excerpt: The city administrator and finance director say they have asked for the information on several occasions, including last month...
john george: Living where we do, it is only a few blocks walk to North Street and a grand view of the sunsets. Also, with our neighbors’ mature white pines & spruce, our covered deck affords outdoor enjoyment with a fair amount of...
Griff Wigley: Props to the newspaper and Suzy Rook for mentioning LoGro twice in the story: Fire Department officials, including Fire Chief Gerry Franek, did not respond to several requests from the News for association financial records or...
Griff Wigley: Posted to Northfield News at 1pm: Ethical questions arise over Northfield Fire Relief Association expenses Donations made to Northfield Fire Relief Association aren’t public dollars, but that hasn’t extinguished city...
Griff Wigley: Curt/Robert, There’s a summary of the Rescue Squad on Page 21 of the 2009 NFD report to the City. It doesn’t mention that there’s a Rescue Squad Association. The last paragraph states: The Northfield Rescue Squad is...
Robert Palmquist: If Hvistendahl’s motivation was to keep the financials from getting known, his submitting a memo like that just really backfired. I agree, why would these financials be such a secret??? And why did the NRSA hire a lawyer to...
Curt Benson: So Hvistendahl has found another place to wet his beak. You ask a good question, “Why is it important that the City not know the Northfield Rescue Squad Association financials?”
Jim Haas: Happens to me a lot. So much that my lovely wife had to coin a term for it: she says I have datelexia.
norman butler: Since coming to my adopted country 16 years ago I have observed, amongst other things, that not putting the day with the date is both common and peculiar to Northfield (MN? USA?).
John Thomas: Just a reminder, advance tickets for Girls Night Out 2012 can be purchased on The Grand’s website at http://www.thegrandnorthfield. com/public-events. Your tickets will then be available at a special “Will Call” at...
Liz Reppe: This is a great place to buy plants! Jeni is very knowledgeable and they are both really helpful. You get great service and plant expertise, but the prices are not higher than other places in town.
bill metz: While most of how Jake is being remembered revolves around, and rightly so, his great and wonderful talent as an artist and teacher and the works of sculpture he has left for our and the next generations enjoyment, I have had the...
Ross Currier: It was an honor for me and the NDDC to work with Jake. His pieces of sculpture in our community send a powerful visual message that Northfield is an Art Town. I still marvel at his clever and creative approach to building social and...
paul krause: The memorial service will be held at 11am. Doors to the Chapel will open at 10am for a chance to visit with family members and friends to share memories of our dear friend. Anyone who would like to view the documentary Harvest (which...
kiffi summa: Come on, Griff… you say you’re “more than a little clueless about about investments” but you “just happened to notice”… and from what you said, were reading analytically, etc etc… Once...
Griff Wigley: I’m more than a little clueless about investments but I noticed on page 14 in the April 24 Council packet that the Fire Relief Association has 85% of its pension portfolio in stocks. Isn’t that a bit risky/aggressive for...
Griff Wigley: Has there been any media reporting on the intergovernmental meeting in Bridgewater Township that was held on April 25 re: the Rural Fire Protection District and the City of Northfield?
Jim Mangan: I noticed this morning that a few of the newly planted trees along South Highway 3 have a pronounced lean. Could it be storm damage?
Ross Currier: It’s great that someone is enhancing the connection between downtown and uptown. I know they coordinated their work with MNDoT, City staff, and the Streetscape Task Force. Uh, raise your trowels in a toast to the Northfield...
Vicki Serreno: I wish I’d known – this is my neighborhood since I left Northfield in 2010. I’d have shown up to support them.
Kathie Galotti: My neighbor and sometimes babysitter Maggie Kennedy appears in this video as well! Go Maggie, and Cliff and Sophie and Parker and everyone else! Well done, guys!
Peter Seebach (Seebs): Heh, we had those when I was in college. Guess we’re making progress, they’re starting years earlier now!
Sandy Vesledahl: Thanks for blogging our garage sale Griff! We are at 2018 Jefferson Rd, Suite 1, thanks to the Jasnoch Family for allowing us to use the space. We will be there until 5:00 today and again from 8-2 on Saturday. We’ve had a...
Bright Spencer: I have an 8 year old dog that has not been neutered, has not reproduced and never been out unleashed except in our yard. It costs nothing to care for your pet properly.
Arlen Malecha: I wish more establishments had outdoor seating & dining. Now that our offices (Coldwell Banker South Metro www.CBSouthMetro.com are downtown, I love to see people sitting and dining outside. It is fun to walk up and down...
Sean Hayford O'Leary: I would say the current configuration of Division Street makes me grateful not everyone is doing it. Sidewalk dining brings a lot of livelihood to the street — but I’ll admit that I’ve been occasionally...
Griff Wigley: Rebecca, there are several Northfield eating and drinking establishments that have outdoor dining with tables and chairs, serving alcohol, but not SIDEWALK dining. Downtown ones that come to mind: The Tavern, Chapati, The Cow, Froggy...
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