Here’s this week’s memo post. ]]> After getting feedback from y’all about the Friday Memo, I’ve gotten into a groove, so I’ll be posting the City Administrator’s “Friday Memo” on my CityCommons blog during the LoGro sabbatical. Hope to see you there.

Here’s this week’s memo post.

The Friday Memo information from the Library, Streets & Parks, and Recreation departments would be of interest to most citizens. This week’s memo (PDF) also includes

There is a . . . → Read More: City Administrator’s weekly Friday Memo of July 23]]> The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City staff, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

The Friday Memo information from the Library, Streets & Parks, and Recreation departments would be of interest to most citizens. This week’s memo (PDF) also includes

• draft agenda items for August City Council sessions
• first notice of Public Forum on Budget – August 23, 2010 (check it out!)
• details on annual water testing

There is a City Council meeting on Tuesday.  You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City staff, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

The Friday Memo information from the Library, Streets & Parks, and Recreation departments in particular would be of interest to most citizens.

Nothing huge in this week’s memo (PDF), just updates on smaller projects and various meetings with regional entities (Dakota County, Bridgewater township).

Next week’s meeting schedule . . . → Read More: City Administrator’s weekly Friday Memo of July 16, 2010]]>

At the Nutcracker Museum in Leavenworth, WA

The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City staff, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

The Friday Memo information from the Library, Streets & Parks, and Recreation departments in particular would be of interest to most citizens.

Nothing huge in this week’s memo (PDF), just updates on smaller projects and various meetings with regional entities (Dakota County, Bridgewater township).

Next week’s meeting schedule includes a joint work session on Monday between the Cities of Northfield and Dundas.  There’s a regular City Council meeting on Tuesday.

You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

The Friday Memo information from the Library, Streets & Parks, and Recreation departments would be of interest to most citizens. This week’s memo (PDF) also includes the Boards & Commissions report (PDF) for June; you can find the Friday Memo and the Boards & Commissions report on the memo page for the week.

Items of note . . . → Read More: City Administrator’s weekly Friday Memo of July 9, 2010]]> The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City staff, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

The Friday Memo information from the Library, Streets & Parks, and Recreation departments would be of interest to most citizens. This week’s memo (PDF) also includes the Boards & Commissions report (PDF) for June; you can find the Friday Memo and the Boards & Commissions report on the memo page for the week.

Items of note this week include:

• No more eyesore! Maybe.  After the amended TIF note financing for the Crossing project closes this week, funds should be available for the City to begin planned site improvements and cleanup.
• An update on the Highway 19 construction schedule and the link to the MnDOT project website.

There is a City Council work session on Tuesday (which includes the next segment of the new LDC from the Planning Commission), and the third open house (PDF) to review the draft of the new stormwater ordinance.

You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

No memo had been posted on the City website as of noon on Saturday; I don’t know why not. If one turns up I’ll amend this post.

NOTE: The library is closed today, tomorrow, and Monday. The municipal liquor store and City Hall offices are closed Monday. There are regular meetings on Tuesday and throughout the . . . → Read More: NO City Administrator’s weekly memo July 2]]> The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City employees, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

No memo had been posted on the City website as of noon on Saturday; I don’t know why not. If one turns up I’ll amend this post.

NOTE: The library is closed today, tomorrow, and Monday. The municipal liquor store and City Hall offices are closed Monday. There are regular meetings on Tuesday and throughout the week; you can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

In addition to the regular department reports, this week’s memo (PDF) includes:

The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City employees, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

You can find this week’s memo (PDF) here, and find upcoming City meetings . . . → Read More: Help with City Administrator’s Friday Memo of June 18]]> I’m bogged down in a work project and have not been able to review the memo to do a decent post. Here are the links – can you help out your fellow citizens by highlighting items of note in the comments?  Thank you!

The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City employees, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

You can find this week’s memo (PDF) here, and find upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

In addition to the regular department reports, this week’s memo (PDF) includes:

Having been reminded by Jane’s comment that the City Administrator’s Friday Memo of 5/28 indicated that noticed would be published in the Northfield News on the 29th, I searched for “public notice” on the NNews website and came up with this item (typo in date, given as “5-59-10″) about three-quarters of the way down the page:

Adobe Flash Player

// < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < ![CDATA[ // < . . . → Read More: Another City public meeting/open house, why you should care, and a rant]]> If you’re concerned about the Cannon River watershed, Spring and Heath Creeks, the health of the Jordan aquifer, and the quality of your drinking water, then you should care about what’s happening with the Surface Water Management Ordinance updates, which will be presented in their draft form this coming Wednesday, June, 9, from 6:30-8:00p in the Community Resource Bank Conference Room. Details after the jump.

(slideshow courtesy of the Minnesota DNR)

The good news is that the City of Northfield engineering department has obviously worked very hard to ensure that a wealth of information about the project is available, including maps of the Cannon River watershed and a report on the cold water trout streams. Helpful shortcut to relevant information here.

The federally-mandated program requires the city not only to look at regulation in response to land use changes, it requires other regulations be put in place that address enforcement, operation and maintenance. . . In 2009 the City updated the stormwater code by adopting a new erosion and sediment control ordinance in compliance with current day practices and the City’s NPDES MS4 permit. The next step in the process is to work with consultant Barr Engineering Co. to draft regulations and policies to address a number of other stormwater concerns including:

[excerpts]

• Life cycle regulation of low impact development stormwater techniques that could include plan design and review, installation, ongoing maintenance and inspections, property rights, etc.
• Update the shore land protection section to be in compliance with the draft update of the DNR model ordinance and consider community desires for shore land protection.
• Consider and address the recommendations of the Rice Creek Concerned Citizens Group.

The bad news is, it’s still WAY too difficult for citizens to find out what they need (or want) to know.

For example, we’ll start at the top with the City website home page and make the GINORMOUS ASSUMPTION that we know the Surface Water Management Plan would be under “Projects”.

(Chances are that people don’t know that; if one uses the Search box at the top of the web page and to search for the more common but still fairly dweeby word “stormwater”, which is also making quite an assumption, the first few results do list the upcoming meeting notices… but there’s no link to the project information the meetings are connected to, so you can’t tell what the meetings are about. They’re just a disembodied calendar item.)

Back to our major assumptions.  Assuming you know it’s a “Project”, you can look on the City “Projects” page. The Projects page has an RSS feed, but the feed is updated only when a new ITEM is added to the Projects page, not when individual project pages have updates. (Each project should have its own RSS feed. )

The Projects page link for the engineering department’s 2010 Surface Water Management Ordinance Project sends you to the Development of Surface Water Management Ordinance (2010) page. Why this second page can’t be the first project page is a mystery to me. The real project page has a notice of the public meeting (a/k/a “community meeting“) in the right sidebar, but it’s in PDF form so you have to click once again to open the document, and PDF contents aren’t linkable.

The main Surface Water Management Ordinance (2010) page has a ton of information and is kept updated, but you’d have to check back daily to see if anything is new or has been added, and it would not be obvious which things are new or changed items. When I clicked on “Public Process” and tried to read the Policy Questions and Responses information, I got an error message (broken link).

On the plus side – the engineering department deserves kudos for the both the quantity and the quality of information they’ve provided, and their commitment to keeping the information current and updated.  They would have reason to be frustrated if citizens complain that information about this project is not available.

On the other hand, due to the non-intuitive, circuitous, and rather Luddite navigation, this information is not easy to find, unless you already know where it is. I have a possible solution that’s quick, dirty, and FREE. I’ll leave that for my next rant about the June 15 public meeting about the City budget.

It’s the first Friday of the month, so this week’s memo (PDF) also includes the Boards & Commissions report (PDF) for May. I admit to colossal failure as this is the third consecutive month for which there is no report from the Planning Commission.  I think that’s been remedied for future, i.e. it will be handled . . . → Read More: City Administrator’s weekly memo for Friday June 4]]> The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski, department heads, and other City staff, summarizes the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

It’s the first Friday of the month, so this week’s memo (PDF) also includes the Boards & Commissions report (PDF) for May. I admit to colossal failure as this is the third consecutive month for which there is no report from the Planning Commission.  I think that’s been remedied for future, i.e. it will be handled by someone other than me.

You can find the Friday Memo and the Boards & Commissions report on the memo page for the week.

Items of note in the Friday Memo include:

• A timeline for the Mayo Clinic project – annexation request, hearings, etc.
• Acknowledgment that the downtown recycling cans are ugly
• Great update on activities from the Housing department
• Miscellaneous engineering & construction updates – Fourth street, trails, etc.

It’s a busy week at City Hall, including a City Council work session on Tuesday (which includes the next segment of the new LDC from the Planning Commission), and an open house (PDF) to review the preliminary draft of the new stormwater ordinance (more on that to follow in a separate post).

You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

This week’s memo includes:

You may remember that Tim Freeland and Adam Gurno did a proof of concept last year with the time-lapse video of the December snowstorm which was picked up by MPR. (Nice work, everyone. Have some Google juice.)

However, the moniker “KYMN-NHS-Cam” is kind of lame. How about SquareStream? RiverStream? Should we have a “name-the-camera” contest here on LoGro?

The Minnesota Green Step Cities program is a State-sponsored program described as  a voluntary program for all Minnesota cities to identify, support, and recognize implementation of a set of sustainable development best practices focusing on greenhouse gas reductions that lead cities beyond compliance and encourage a culture of innovation. . . . → Read More: Psst… an almost-secret meeting at City Hall tonight!]]> Late last week the City website put up notice for tonight’s  Green Step Cities Presentation meeting.  The notice doesn’t say what it’s about, who it’s for, who’s making the presentation, or anything other than the place and time, which is unfortunate because it may be of interest to citizens.

The Minnesota Green Step Cities program is a State-sponsored program described as  a voluntary program for all Minnesota cities to identify, support, and recognize implementation of a set of sustainable development best practices focusing on greenhouse gas reductions that lead cities beyond compliance and encourage a culture of innovation.

The program is new and will be available this summer;  the purpose of the presentation is to inform the City Council about the program. Tonight’s presentation will be made by Phillipp Muessig of the MPCA.

Since the program’s “best practices” have many implications for land use, I’ve encouraged my fellow Planning Commissioners to attend as well, even though we were not notified/invited.  (I don’t know why not. )

The meeting is tonight (Monday) in the Council Chambers from 7-9p. Wouldn’t it be awful if “too many people” showed up?

This week’s memo includes:

I’m wondering if Griff’s original idea has now outlived its usefulness. Since there are rarely any comments on the Friday . . . → Read More: Does anybody read the Friday Memo on LoGroNo?]]> I’ve been doing weekly recaps of City Administrator Joel Walinkski’s Friday memo for forever. Actually it was Griff who started it.  We wanted to disseminate the information in the Friday Memo (a PDF link posted on the City website), highlighting items of note with the ability to link to other documents and materials.  Eventually the Northfield News and others began posting links to the Friday Memo, and recently the City started including hyperlinks in the memo PDF itself.

I’m wondering if Griff’s original idea has now outlived its usefulness. Since there are rarely any comments on the Friday Memo posts, I’m not sure we’re doing much of a service; not enough, that is, to justify the hassle factor (for me).  So I’d like to know, if I discontinue doing the Friday Memo posts, does anyone care?

I haven’t done the last two, and the only person I’ve heard from about it is Griff.     I’m happy to continue if our commentary is an added value, but if not, the information is available multiple places now. I’d like to know what you think.

Apparently the dwarf form of the trout lily is ONLY found in three counties in Minnesota, and nowhere else in the world. The foliage of the dwarf trout lilies and the regular trout lilies looks the same and they are found together in the . . . → Read More: Are there endangered dwarf trout lilies in the Arb?]]> Lance and I went for a hike in Big Woods State Park about a week ago, and the dwarf trout lilies  were in bloom.  After reading a bit about them (here’s the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service fact sheet) I wondered if there might be some in the Arb or down along the river.

Apparently the dwarf form of the trout lily is ONLY found in three counties in Minnesota, and nowhere else in the world. The foliage of the dwarf trout lilies and the regular trout lilies looks the same and they are found together in the same drifts, so you can’t tell them apart until they bloom.  Trout lilies have six creamy-white tepals (that was a new one for me) and the flower is about the diameter of a nickel. Dwarf trout lilies have 4, 5, or 6 tepals and are about the size of a dime. They also have a slightly pinkish cast.

I went into the Arb and found some trout lilies, but only a few were blooming, and I didn’t see any recognizable dwarf trout lilies.  Does anyone know if the dwarf version has been identified in or around Northfield and/or the Arb?

Here are some more details from the MinnesotaWildflowers blog/website.

This week’s memo includes:

You can find the Friday Memo and attachments on . . . → Read More: City Adminstrator’s Friday Memo of April 23]]> The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department heads and other City staff, summarizes the staff and department activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

This week’s memo includes:

• updates on various administrative and infrastructure projects
• board & commission vacancies/seeking applications
• a flyer from Three Rivers Community Action promoting their 4/7 seminar about creating a healthy home (what you need to know about radon gas, lead, mold, etc.)

You can find the Friday Memo and attachments on the memo page for the week.

There are City Council and Planning Commission work sessions this week, as well as the EDA’s public open house on the Business Park planning process.

You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

When I asked City Planner Dan Olson for details, he responded,

Apparently FEMA did not give one community in Dakota County the “full right of notice and appeal” to according to the federal process. As such, FEMA is now ruling that all communities in Dakota . . . → Read More: Tonight’s public hearing on revision of flood plain ordinance CANCELLED]]> The Planning Commission will NOT be holding a public hearing on the proposed revisions to the City’s flood plain ordinance at their meeting tonight; the item has been pulled from the agenda due to some jurisdictional requirement that was not met. (Nothing to do with the City of Northfield, its ordinances, or procedures.)

When I asked City Planner Dan Olson for details, he responded,

Apparently FEMA did not give one community in Dakota County the “full right of notice and appeal” to according to the federal process. As such, FEMA is now ruling that all communities in Dakota County have to stop their adoption process while FEMA attends to the procedural oversight for the one community. This will take approximately 1 year.

Just in case anyone was going to attend tonight’s meeting just for the public hearing….

Thanks to the City Council, the Planning Commission, and especially to Tim Freeland of KYMN Radio and City Councillor Betsey Buckheit for making my job easier.

First, a quick update on the LDC from this morning’s KYMN Radio newscast.

Next, the video of last week’s presentation to the City Council on the Land Development Code as it relates to existing (“built residential”) neighborhoods:

Finally, more in-depth information and history from City Councillor Betsey Buckheit’s blog posts – here and here.

. . . → Read More: Land Development Code update]]> (Originally posted on my CityCommons.net blog.)

Thanks to the City Council, the Planning Commission, and especially to Tim Freeland of KYMN Radio and City Councillor Betsey Buckheit for making my job easier.

First, a quick update on the LDC from this morning’s KYMN Radio newscast.

Next, the video of last week’s presentation to the City Council on the Land Development Code as it relates to existing (“built residential”) neighborhoods:

Finally, more in-depth information and history from City Councillor Betsey Buckheit’s blog posts – here and here.

I’ve turned off comments on my blog post so any discussion could happen here on LoGro.

Here’s last Friday’s memo (April 16) with the monthly Boards & Commissions report (for which I failed to produce anything of value… I suppose I can’t just say “see my blog for details”).

Here’s the previous Friday Memo (April 9).

There’s a City Council meeting tomorrow. One of the agenda items is, . . . → Read More: I’m falling down on the job. Here are the last two Friday Memos.]]> The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department heads and other City staff, summarizes the staff and department activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

Here’s last Friday’s memo (April 16) with the monthly Boards & Commissions report (for which I failed to produce anything of value… I suppose I can’t just say “see my blog for details”).

Here’s the previous Friday Memo (April 9).

There’s a City Council meeting tomorrow. One of the agenda items is, “Identify preferred locations for Safety Center”.

You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

There’s a lot of info in this week’s memo. Some of the highlights include:

You can find the Friday Memo on the memo . . . → Read More: Friday memo]]> The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department heads and other City staff, summarizes the staff and department activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

There’s a lot of info in this week’s memo. Some of the highlights include:

• updates on seasonal city services  in light of budget cuts
• the Code Red brochure
• information about the Safety Center architect selection
• lots of details about grants, apps, and opportunities

You can find the Friday Memo on the memo page for the week.

There’s a City Council strategic planning session tonight (sorry, no details available other than place and time) and a City Council meeting (including the 4th Street trees issue) tomorrow.

You can view all upcoming City meetings on the City Calendar.

This week’s memo contains musings and updates about unfunded mandates, as well as details about the construction closure of the Fifth Street bridge for a little more than a week.  You can find the Friday Memo on the memo page for the week.

No City Council meeting this week; see the City . . . → Read More: City Administrator’s Friday Memo of March 26, 2010]]> The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department heads and other City staff, summarizes the staff and department activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

This week’s memo contains musings and updates about unfunded mandates, as well as details about the construction closure of the Fifth Street bridge for a little more than a week.  You can find the Friday Memo on the memo page for the week.

No City Council meeting this week; see the City Calendar for schedule and details of other meetings.

This week’s memo contains the scoring and ranking of proposals by the Safety Center Architectural Firm Selection Workgroup. The top 5 firms are tentatively scheduled for interviews next Friday, March 26.  In addition, from now on the mid-month Friday Memo will include a draft of City Council agenda items for the upcoming . . . → Read More: City Administrator’s Friday Memo of March 19, 2010]]> The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department heads and other City staff, summarizes the staff and department activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of the City Administrator’s web page.

This week’s memo contains the scoring and ranking of proposals by the Safety Center Architectural Firm Selection Workgroup. The top 5 firms are tentatively scheduled for interviews next Friday, March 26.  In addition, from now on the mid-month Friday Memo will include a draft of City Council agenda items for the upcoming month. (April’s draft agenda is included in this week’s memo.)   You can find the Friday Memo on the memo page for the week.

Depending upon the nature of the item, a variable small fee will be charged to defray the costs of recycling. (This opportunity is offered to individuals/households only, not businesses.)

For more information about what’s involved in manufacturing these items, why you should recycle them, and some heinous human rights abuses in . . . → Read More: Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled electronic masses]]> This Saturday, March 20, from 9a to noon, Carleton College is sponsoring a home electronics equipment recycling day. Items accepted include TVs, printers, fax machines, computer monitors, microwaves, stereo equipment, VCR’s, DVD players, electronic games, laptop computers, calculators, portable audio players, cordless phones, cell phones, keyboards, etc.

Depending upon the nature of the item, a variable small fee will be charged to defray the costs of recycling. (This opportunity is offered to individuals/households only, not businesses.)

For more information about what’s involved in manufacturing these items, why you should recycle them, and some heinous human rights abuses in this industry, see the Materials Processing Corporation  blog:

E-waste sent overseas for processing to places like Guiyu has very detrimental effects on the health of the e-waste workers, and even the residents of the towns where this processing takes place:  “According to reports from nearby Shantou University, Guiyu has the highest level of cancer-causing dioxins in the world and an elevated rate of miscarriages.”

Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to recycle electronics with firms that have promised to process everything they take in here in the United States. A list of these recyclers, which includes Materials Processing Corporation, can be found here.

For more information, dropoff location, and details on the fees, please see the Carleton website.