Ed Kuhlman and Mary Rossing were the beauties on duty, but other proprietors are Barb Kuhlman, Tom Buettell, Pam Curry, Jessica Paxton, Jen Severtsgaard, and Mary Titus.

On a number of occasions during my tenure as Mayor I have felt the need to address the Council publicly, and to remind my colleagues that in order to be be effective in our jobs it is important that we maintain a level of protocol and respect in our deliberations. This is expressed in how we speak to each other, to the public or to our City Staff. In recent weeks I have personally observed, and have had it pointed out to me by various members of our community that it appears that it has become acceptable for staff to be discredited and put down in public.

That is not right and it should not be acceptable in these Chambers. That is not to say that we must agree with staff opinions or with their recommendations or that we cannot question the basis for such opinions. But when they speak from their position as professionals, they must be respected.

Councilors Kris Vohs and Rhonda Pownell are quoted in the article as also being unhappy with the tenor at times at meetings and elsewhere. No word from the others:

Councilors Betsey Buckheit and Suzie Nakasian declined to comment for this story. Councilors Patrick Ganey and Erica Zweifel could not be reached for comment.

Since I’m someone often accused of having a bug up his ass about the importance of civility in conversations, I’m interested in this issue. But neither the article nor Rossing’s statement mention any specifics, so it’s hard to know what’s going on. Sometimes when people are critical of others, that’s seen as automatic disrespect, whereas I believe that public criticism can be done in a way that’s respectful.

Back in March, Councilor Kris Vohs was unhappy with the interactions among the Councilors. I was critical of how he handled it but there were never any examples mentioned of what he was talking about. In May of 2010, Mayor Rossing was also critical of council decorum.

Can anyone who’s been at Council meetings lately or who has watched the proceedings via cable TV or live streaming cite some interactions that might be examples of disrespect towards city staff by councilors?

    
Chuck Pryor (on the far right in the left photo above), purchased the building earlier this year and owns the restaurant. (Chuck also owns The Tavern of Northfield and The Grand Event Center.)

Chris Basina is the Executive Chef and his wife Sirie Basina was our waitperson (center photo above). I’m no restaurant critic so let’s just say that Robbie and I were blown away by the quality of the food and the service. Chris and Sirie were delightful, as was manager Deanna Sharp (not pictured).

     
The interior has been revamped and spiffed up a bit. It’s quite classy. The dinner menu? Wow.

I blogged about this back in May, 2009:  Advertising banners in Ames Park: what are the guidelines? In the comments attached to that post, one citizen reported that they’d asked City Hall about it:

The answer was that there was no charge for the space and the rules were pretty informal — an honor system of sorts. You just needed to let them know when you would put the sign up and how long you needed the space. It was understood that you’d secure it safely and take the sign down right after the event. It was also understood that the space was for community events like the hospital book fair and not private business advertising.

Looks like one business is advertising, not that I’m objecting.

Mayor Mary Rossing commented:

The Mayor’s Streetscape Taskforce will be meeting again, with new and returning members in the mix, mid June. This is one of their charges. A permanent kiosk has been talked about as we continue to work to add amenities to the downtown and gateway areas. They will be looking at many potential projects and prioritizing and making recommendations to the council. All projects need to be in place (or in progress) by the end of 2013 as this is the end of the master development funds.

So if this was one of the charges for the Streetscape Taskforce two years ago, can someone update us on what was decided, if anything?

In her letter (PDF) emailed to me (and I assume others in the local media) she doesn’t explain the reason for the closing, other than to say "I have decided that it is time to spread my wings."  As for Coldwell, she writes:

This means that where there was just one person standing behind a counter, thirteen local agents will now be working out of this space in downtown Northfield. Thirteen people will be bringing in clients, buying coffee and lunch in the downtown, and adding to the vitality of Division Street.

 
The team of 13 Coldwell Banker South Metro realtors includes Ed Kuhlman, Larry Defries, Jeanette Nelson, and Arlen Malecha, pictured above on a rainy Crazy Daze last July.

See also:

• Nfld Patch: Present Perfect in Downtown Northfield to Close, Coldwell Banker South Metro to Move In
• KYMN: Mayor’s store–Present Perfect closing
• Nfld News: No future for Present Perfect

Speakers included:

• Sam Gett, publisher of the Northfield News, sponsors/underwriters of the award
• Mary Rossing, Northfield Mayor
• Paul Krause, nominator of Ray ‘Jake’ Jacobson
• Kathy Rush, nominator of Myrna Johnson

Paul Krause announced during his remarks that Ray Jacobson now has his own website.

See the album of 16 photos, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

To her credit, Mayor Mary Rossing acknowledges in her budget presentations that the City has not properly maintained the Safety Center, something I complained about in a blog post last November. (On taking responsibility for 20+ years of deferring maintenance on the Northfield Safety Center.)  She promises that the City will do better.

The hole in the external wall of the Muni is an opportunity to deliver on this promise.

Back in April, Northfield News Managing Editor Suzy Rook wrote in an online column called ‘Walking the Walk’:

For several months I’ve seen a section of the liquor store’s south side wall crack, buckle and come apart, leaving a hole I could fit both fists into with room to spare. I’ve wondered how long the city planned to let moisture impact a building that’s already in poor condition.

Two months later, the hole is still there (right under the display window on the sidewalk), getting bigger, letting in rain water, and prominently countering the Mayor’s promise to do better at the very time that the City ramps up its pitch to the citizens on the need for new police and fire facilities.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes:

KYMN has the indexed video of the 5/18/10 Council meeting so you can go right to the video of the Mayor’s Opening Remarks.  (KYMN News Director Scott Peterson mentioned her remarks in his news update on 5/19.)

There are a couple minutes of dead air at the beginning, plus the approval of minutes etc. so her opening remarks don’t begin till the 3:45 minute mark. If you’re in a hurry, here’s an audio excerpt. (Click play to listen. 5 minutes.)

You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes. Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Mondays at 6:00 PM and Sundays at 10 AM on KYMN 1080 AM.

Click play to listen. 1 hour, 13 minutes. Or download the MP3.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes:

You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes. Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Mondays at 6:00 PM and Sundays at 10 AM on KYMN 1080 AM.

Do you have questions for her that you’d like us to consider asking?  (Note the word consider, please.) If so, attach a comment here or use our Contact Us form.

Update: 2/2, 7:25 am: Ross wasn’t able to attend. And the live show went for a full hour. Yikes!

Click play to listen. 60 minutes:

You can also download the MP3 or subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes. Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Mondays at 6:00 PM and Sundays at 10 AM on KYMN 1080 AM.

See the album of 28 photos, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:

Click play to listen. 10 minutes. And hear the audio of the entire Memorial Day service on KYMN’s blog.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes. You can also subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes.

Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Wednesdays at 5:30 PM on KYMN 1080 AM and on Fridays at 4 PM on KRLX 88.1 FM.

She’s been on the job for dozens of hours but unfortunately, as you’ll hear, has very few accomplishments she can point to.  Recall, anyone?

Click play to listen. The show is 30 minutes long. You can also subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes.

Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Wednesdays at 5:30 PM on KYMN 1080 AM and on Fridays at 4 PM on KRLX 88.1 FM.

I surprised Mayor Mary Rossing in her store Present Perfect this morning with my video camera. I mostly asked her questions that had to do with Monday night’s City Council meeting, which you can read a bit about here. We touched upon her changes in meeting procedure, her tactics on facilitating meetings and her outlook on information exchange in Northfield and on the financial health of the city’s businesses.

*Note 1/7 8:45 a.m.: To clarify, Mary told me over the phone that I could interview her at the store and when I got to the store and asked if I could videotape our interview she gave me her permission. Mary has always been very accessible and I appreciated her willingness to once again speak to me with the camera rolling.

Mayor Mary Rossing’s First Day from Bonnie Obremski on Vimeo.

We touched on many of the issues that have been discussed in the comment thread (90+ comments to-date) attached to the blog post, Outgoing Chamber president David Ludescher: frustrated but hopeful.

I’ve left comments enabled on that post, but I’d like to shift the discussion about CoC (Chamber of Commerce) and CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau) issues here.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes. You can also subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe directly with iTunes.

Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Wednesdays at 5:30 PM on KYMN 1080 AM.

Left: Doug Bratland has a Northfield.org photo album of 42 photos. Right: Dave Machacek has an ArtOrg photo album of 37 photos.

A few select people (those living in the western hemisphere) are invited to a birthday celebration, coming up at undisclosed location which she’s promised to reveal here Real Soon Now.

Mary Rossing, proprietor of Present Perfect, was our guest on Wednesday, talking about DJJD and its impact on Northfield retail.

We also talked city hall issues.

After the show, she and KYMN station manager Jeff Johnson hopped on their horses and headed out to the American Legion Ballroom for the DJJD Joseph Lee Heywood Award Dinner.

Click play to listen. 30 minutes.

Our radio show/podcast, Locally Grown, usually airs Wednesdays live at 5:30 PM on KYMN 1080 AM. You can also subscribe to the podcast feed, or subscribe with iTunes. We seek your comments and suggestions.

… found the Jesse James horseshoe this morning, just before 7 a.m. The prized shoe was magnetized and hanging on the back of an air conditioning unit at the public library on Washington Street, one of the key clues. Rossing said she was out of town until Tuesday and thought for sure her chances of finding the prize were slim. Nonetheless, on Wednesday and Thursday morning, she was out and about diligently looking.  But it wasn’t until Friday morning at 6:40 a.m., when hunt organizer Franklin Lee read the fifth clue on KYMN that Rossing knew for sure.  By 6:41 a.m., she was at the library. Rossing has a registered button and says she plans to donate a portion of the $1,000 bounty she won to the Friends of the Library.

See all the clues on the Defeat of Jesse James Days’ horseshoe hunt page. And see the site of the Friends of the Northfield of the Public Library, the lucky recipient of Mary’s generosity.