Library building project on hold
The new Northfield Library Project is on hold. Last Thursday City officials, including Director Theresa Jensen, had a meeting with their architects and the cost estimator to discuss the final cost estimates before taking the Construction Documents (CDs) to City Council for approval, and then to issue the CDs out to bid. They’ve been working with the architects to continually define the renovated building scope and services, and had anticipated that the final cost estimate would be in line with previous cost projections. In an email, Jensen said, unfortunately, the final cost estimate came in substantially above the dollar amount that had been budgeted for construction. The cost estimator, from the firm of Kraus-Anderson, cited competitive market conditions due to an active construction season, rising cost of materials, particularly glass and concrete, and an abundance of construction projects shovel-ready for general contractors to pick from. Jensen declined an opportunity to go on-air just yet as there’s a lot of paperwork to go through and breakdown of costs. In an email she said that she wanted to leave the estimate differences at “substantial”.
Dundas man with extensive criminal history back in jail
A Dundas man is back in jail. 22 year old Cody Luiken has an extensive criminal history involving drugs, alcohol and theft, 5 of which are felonies. He pled guilty last year to controlled substance in the 2nd degree after an incident involving methamphetamine at the Days Inn in Faribault. Luiken violated probation and remains in the Rice County jail.
City holds “Community Context” meeting on Woodley Street
The City is holding a series of weekly meetings on the Woodley Street project to get citizen input. The first meeting was informational meeting. Officials talked of the scope of the project. Assistant Public Works Director, Brian Erickson added that afterward, city officials answered questions and talked with residents on an individual basis. The next meeting is Wednesday and is the “Community Context” meeting wherein residents can chime in with their own thoughts and ideas. They’ll talk about the broader use of Woodley. That includes features like sidewalks, bike lanes, lighting and more. There are 4 more meetings including this one, scheduled for input. We have a list on our website kymnradio.net. Erickson says Staff will then bring this all to the Council, there will also be an opportunity for folks to speak at the open mic. Erickson says there have been “no decisions” on design yet, only that the width need be 44 feet according to the County. The nearly $5 million project would reconstruct Woodley Street from Prairie to Division. That includes utilities. All the meetings are being held in the Sibley Elementary school gym from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
Nfld. food service designs tasty/nutritious meals and sales increase
There’s been a radical change in child nutrition at public schools. Director of Child Nutrition for Northfield Schools, Stephanie Strahme (sp?) shared all the new federal regulations. Superintendent Dr. Chris Richardson said the nutrition staff has to get pretty creative making foods with less sugar, less fat yet tasty and filling. Richardson said the Board was treated to Jicama slaw and lower calorie chocolate chip cookies. He says the staff has worked hard at refining tasty recipes and offering other choices from salads to mini pizzas to asian foods and more but with “lots of veggies and fruit” and using whole wheat bread. Richardson says, due to the hard work our staff has done, Northfield’s district has not seen the pushback that other food service programs have seen. In fact, the numbers show an increase between free, reduced – priced and full priced lunches have gone up between 12 and 150%.
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The post Today’s news update – Library building project on hold; Dundas man with extensive criminal history back in jail; City holds “Community Context” meeting on Woodley Street; Nfld. food service designs tasty/nutritious meals and sales increase appeared first on KYMN Radio - Northfield, MN.