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By Tracy Davis, on January 10, 2010, 10:42 am
 The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various 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 first memo of each month usually includes an update on the actions and activities of the City’s Boards and Commissions.
Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week. Items of note include:
Continue reading City Administrator Joel Walinski’s first Friday Memo of 2010
By Tracy Davis, on December 12, 2009, 12:35 pm
The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various 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 first memo of each month usually includes an update on the actions and activities of the City’s Boards and Commissions.
Friday’s memo, as well as the Boards & Commissions report for November, can be found on the memo page for the week. Items of note include:
Continue reading City Administrator’s Friday Memo of Dec. 11
By Tracy Davis, on December 7, 2009, 6:07 pm
The “Friday Memo,” written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various 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 first memo of each month also includes an update on the actions and activities of the City’s Boards and Commissions.
Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week. Items of note include:
Continue reading City Administrator’s Friday Memo of Dec. 4
By Tracy Davis, on November 16, 2009, 9:04 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week. The first memo of each month also includes the Boards & Commissions update on the actions and activities of the preceding month.
Items of note include:
- Last stage of organizing the grant application for Mill Towns Trail (many shows of suport, including the City of Dundas, which passed a resolution of support including a commitment of up to $10,000.)
- A Heritage Preservation Commission meeting to be held on Thursday to discuss demolition of the Community resource bank building on Bridge Square.
There is a City Council meeting and work session Monday at 7:00p. You can view all City meetings on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on November 9, 2009, 8:47 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week. The first memo of each month also includes the Boards & Commissions update on the actions and activities of the preceding month.
There is a City Council work session tonight at 7:00p. You can view all City meetings on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on October 5, 2009, 12:09 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week. The first memo of each month also includes the Boards & Commissions update on the actions and activities of the preceding month. (The Planning Commission has been too busy reviewing details in the proposed Land Development Code to have any time to write up a summary for the monthly report.  )
Some items of interest in this week’s memo include information on a Rental Board of Appeals hearing, and details on the grant the Library’s Teen Advisory Board received from the Healthy Community Initiative.
There is a closed City Council meeting tonight at 6:30, and a regular meeting and work session afterwards at 7:00p. You can view all City meetings on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on September 27, 2009, 2:28 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week.
Some items of interest in this week’s memo include:
- Information on a quote for an electronic document management system for the City. According to the City Clerk, “Professionals spend 5-15 % of their time reading information but up to 50% looking for it.” I’m assuming the professionals referred to are public employees, because in the private sector if it took 50% of people’s time finding already existing information, they’d be fired.
- Another item perhaps of interest: There are rumblings that another restaurant will be locating in the space held by Sweet Lou’s Waffle Bar.
- The memo also contains various street and budget updates which didn’t catch my interest when I read the memo, but are probably more important than the above.
No City Council meeting this Monday. You can view all City meetings on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on September 21, 2009, 9:20 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week.
Some items of interest in this week’s memo include information from the police department about a new drop box for unwanted prescriptions, a mobile camera system for monitoring areas with possible suspicious activity such as property damage or graffiti tagging, and various construction updates including the First Street and Riverside Trail projects.
NOTE: There will be a City Council meeting and work session on Monday, beginning with a closed session at 6:30 to discuss a performance evaluation of the city administrator, and a regular meeting at 7:15p.
You can view all City meetings on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on September 14, 2009, 2:29 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week. This week’s memo also includes the monthly Board & Commission update.
Some items of interest in this week’s memo include various engineering/infrastructure updates, timeline for the business park(s) master plan, work with the MPCA on remediation of the underground storage tank at the Safety Center, and lighting options for the Riverside Trail.
NOTE: There will be a City Council meeting tonight, beginning with a closed session at 6:30 to discuss litigation against the City, and a regular meeting at 7:15p.
You can view all City meetings on the City calendar.
By Griff Wigley, on August 31, 2009, 8:06 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week.
NOTE: There will be a City Council Work Session tonight, and the agenda includes:
1. Sharpening the Effectiveness of Boards and Commissions
2. Safety Center Project Update
3. Skate board plaza review
4. Update on City Attorney selection process
5. Utility rate study
You can view all City meetings on the City calendar.
By Griff Wigley, on August 24, 2009, 7:40 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week.
NOTE: There will be a special City Council Meeting and Work Session tonight, apparently to deal with recommendations on the Hwy 3 & 19 transportation study.
You can view all City meetings on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on August 16, 2009, 8:18 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
The BIG NEWS in this week’s memo is something Griff and I have been bitching about for years… City Hall now has wireless internet! (Thanks to Melissa Reeder and others at City Hall who made this happen.)
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week.
NOTE: There will be a City Council meeting on Monday and a community meeting about the new zoning ordinance draft on Tuesday. You can view all City meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on August 8, 2009, 3:41 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
This week’s memo includes an update on the foreclosure and status of The Crossings project as well as the monthly Boards & Commissions report.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week.
NOTE: There will be a City Council work session on Monday. You can view all City meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on July 25, 2009, 2:38 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
This week’s memo includes information about City policies for streams and wetlands protection, and how the City might protect the Spring Creek and Heath Creek watersheds should annexation of the property in Bridgewater Township take place.
 The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo can be found on the memo page for the week.
NOTE: There will be a City Council work session on Monday. No information about this work session is currently available on the city website. You can view all City meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on July 20, 2009, 10:21 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
This week’s memo includes an overview of some of the steps the City is contemplating to address the anticipated budget shortfalls in 2010, note that a meeting will be held this week between City staff, legal counsel, Mendota Homes, and Highland Bank to determine a strategy for the Crossings project, and an update on Safe Routes to School.
The most interested part of this week’s memo, to me, was the detail about the public input process for the TH3/TH19 Modal Integration Study. It’s too detailed for me to quote here, so I encourage you to read it. Among other things, there’s an OPEN HOUSE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT 7P which hasn’t been well-publicized. As part of the study, the City is also taking its very first stab at having an online forum for public input which someone on City staff will actually manage personally. (There has been online input on other projects before, but it’s been implemented and managed by someone other than a staff person… like yours truly.) Read the details in the memo, it’s interesting. And there’s a project page on the City website.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo and accompanying documents can be found on the memo page for the week.
NOTE: There is a City Council meeting tonight. You can view all City meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on July 13, 2009, 10:44 am
 The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo and accompanying documents can be found on the memo page for the week. This week’s memo also includes the monthly update from the City’s boards and commissions.
This week’s memo includes some very interesting info about the Rate Search theft of City funds:
We learned that Mr. Luster has been transferred to Leavenworth penitentiary to serve out his sentence. He is not eligible for parole. His scheduled release date is in July of 2014.
We are still waiting on receipt of funds from Clark Schultz’s voluntary payment of nearly $500,000 made as part of his plea deal. This money will be distributed proportionally to all victims of the ponzie scheme. The City’s share will be approximately 40% of the total.
Also, the memo notes a transportation open house for the Highway 3/Highway 19 “Modal Integration Study”. This will be held at the Armory on 7/22. (I will link to more information as I have it – at the time of this post, I could not find any information on the City website.)
NOTE: There is a City Council work session tonight. You can view all City meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on June 28, 2009, 8:58 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and various department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo and accompanying documents can be found on the memo page for the week.
This week’s memo includes information on a potential EDA loan to the owners of the Archer House to help with gap financing for a substantial and much-needed renovation. The memo also included a nice note of thanks to those, including yours truly, who have been intensely involved in the work of the draft Land Development Code (thank you, Joel!)
It’s a fairly slow week for meetings at City Hall this week, in part because there are five Mondays and Tuesdays in June (regular meetings are usually the 1st/3rd or 2nd/4th Mondays or Tuesdays of the month), and in part due to the July 4 holiday. You can view all City meetings here on the City calendar.
NOTE: The Library is closed on Friday, July 3, and Saturday, July 4 this week.
By Tracy Davis, on June 22, 2009, 8:37 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. Friday’s memo and accompanying documents can be found on the memo page for the week.
Note: City Council special meeting and work session tonight. Agenda items include recommendations from the Safety Center Task Force and a joint meeting with the EDA regarding the Master Plan for Business Park(s).
You can view all City meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on June 15, 2009, 12:14 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week. The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page.
Friday’s memo and accompanying documents can be found on the memo page for the week. This week’s memo includes an update about commuter bus service from Northfield to the Twin Cities, hooray! City Administrator Joel Walinski said, “If you have suggestions on a possible temporary bus top for the commuter service, please let me know.” You heard it here first.
Note: City Council meeting tonight. You can view all meetings here on the City calendar.
http://www.ci.northfield.mn.us/whatsnew/pczba/2009/07/31/check_out_the_website_dedicated_to_the_ldc
By Tracy Davis, on June 8, 2009, 7:32 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page.
The June 5 memo and accompanying documents can be found on the memo page for the week. On the first Friday of the month, the City Administrator’s weekly report also includes a report on the activities of the City Boards & Commissions, which can also be found on the memo page.
Note: City Council work session tonight. You can view all meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on May 31, 2009, 9:12 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. See the Friday memo for this past week and then comment or ask questions about it here.
Note: There is a City Council meeting on Monday. You can view all meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on May 18, 2009, 6:43 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. See the Friday memo for this past week and then comment or ask questions about it here.
This week’s good news includes a colossal invasion of privacy (not to mention waste of time) as the City “reviews” EVERY RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY TO VERIFY USE:
The building inspection staff continues to work on getting all the residential properties that are used as rental in Northfield brought into compliance with the rental ordinance. Staff has started the process to review every residential property in the city to verify the use of the property. We will determine if the property is owner occupied or is being used as a rental. This process will take several months to complete. Monthly progress reports will be provided to the Community Development Department Manager.
WTF?
I sure hope my college-age kids don’t answer the door when the City comes calling, but if they do I’ll be sure I’ve coached them on the fourth amendment and that they ask the building inspector for his warrant. Maybe it’s just me, but does anyone else see problems with a rental ordinance that requires visits to every home to determine “compliance”? I’ll bet they’ll even be wearing brown shirts. Have I mentioned that the rental ordinance is not in conformance with certain principles adopted in the Comprehensive Plan? I won’t start by throwing around that word “unconstitutional”. Call your councillors, everybody, this is a dumb one.
Moving right along to the better and more constructive stuff in the weekly memo, there are details of funding  reductions in local government aid (LGA), a good visual presentation by Kathleen McBride on where our residential and commercial property taxes go, and updates on many of the construction projects around town.
Supplementary documents for the week are available on this week’s Friday memo page on the City website.
Note: There is a City Council meeting/work session tonight. You can view all meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on May 10, 2009, 3:06 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. See the Friday memo for this past week and then comment or ask questions about it here.
Note: There is a City Council work session on Monday. You can view all meetings here on the City calendar.
By Tracy Davis, on May 4, 2009, 6:41 am
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
This week’s memo has an update on the Mill Towns Trail bridge, the Safety Center task force, possible acquisition of foreclosed house by Way Park for rehab or demolition (not sure which), the Building Code Board of Appeals, and more.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. See the Friday memo for this past week and then comment or ask questions about it here.
By Tracy Davis, on April 24, 2009, 3:39 pm
The Friday Memo, written by Northfield City Administrator Joel Walinski and many of the department directors, managers, and supervisors, summarizes many of the staff activities for the week.
This week’s memo has an update on the Mill Towns Trail bridge (could be ready to use in July!) and some interesting statistics from a town in WI that’s measured the economic impact of their fiberoptic broadband infrastructure.
The Friday memos are published and archived in PDF form at the bottom of Joel Walinski’s web page. See the Friday memo for this past week and then comment or ask questions about it here.
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