My posts to different blogs (here, LocallyGrown.org, NorthfieldPlan.org) are scattering me all over the web, and I may have to strategize about exactly what I post where in order to retain some consistency. But, in conjunction with my belief that it's not possible to overcommunicate about local government issues, I'm posting the timeline for the Comprehensive Plan review and revision process put out by our consultants, ACP Visioning and Planning, even though the timeline is also posted on the NorthfieldPlan.org site. Please post any questions or comments to NorthfieldPlan.org.

Continue reading "More on the Comprehensive Plan" »

Posted by the Webmaster on January 13, 2007 11:05 AM | Permalink

The EDA held its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday morning.

Items of note:

• The EDA will be presenting a brief update on activities at the Dec. 4 City Council meeting.
• Rice County is planning to hire an Economic Development director by the end of this year.
• Updates from the Land Development subcommittee and Fiberoptics Initiative task force were postponed till the next EDA meeting on Dec. 14.
• There were three impromptu presentations/ Q&A sessions by organizations requesting funds from the EDA for the upcoming budget cycle (applications had to be received before today's meeting to be considered for next year). The applicants were the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation, the Northfield Chamber of Commerce. No action was taken; decisions about funding will probably be made at the Dec. 14 or Dec 28 meeting.

That's a wrap. Agenda and past minutes can be found here on the City website.

Posted by the Webmaster on November 30, 2006 05:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(See Planning Commission Chair Ross Currier's post on the Locally Grown blog for the antecedent.)

Posted by the Webmaster on October 29, 2006 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At the 3-22-2006 meeting, the EDA approved funding of $20,000 to the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation. The NDDC has achieved several visible accomplishments in the past year and has many more plans for 2006 and beyond. The NDDC is the organization to thank for providing the impetus for the new street banners, the full-color Downtown Directory in Bridge Square, renewed Third Thursday cultural programming, ArtSwirl, and many retail initiatives. Their partnerships with the Northfield Arts Guild, the colleges, local businesses and downtown property owners, and others leverages the dollars invested and helps promote both the economic vitality of Northfield and a serious amount of goodwill between these organizations with different priorities and focuses (or foci, in the case of the colleges).

Posted by the Webmaster on March 23, 2006 07:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning, the EDA met with the board of the Northfield Enterprise Center for a strategic planning meeting.

A little history may be in order. From the earliest days of the EDA's existence (early 1990s), part of its vision was for a "business incubator" or service/facility to encourage businesses in their initial stages of startup and growth. An organization independent of the EDA would be able to operate faster and more flexibly than a municipal entity is able to do, and it was determined that an organization with non-profit status would be in the best position to accomplish some of the EDA's goals. Due to a change in Minnesota state law in the late 90s, the City/EDA was unable to incorporate a non-profit entity, so the decision was made to establish the NEC as a fully independent organization with only the loosest possible (informal) affiliation with the EDA. The NEC was spun off from the EDA in 2001 and incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and the EDA has contributed the major portion of funding for the NEC since that time. The allocation for 2006 is $45,000.

This morning's meeting focused on the future direction of the NEC. Over the past three years, the NEC has achieved several notable accomplishments, among them partnering with Carleton, St. Olaf, First National Bank, Community National Bank, and Wells Fargo Northfield to establish a $1.5M community investment fund. Along the way the NEC also provided many businesses and individuals with management and technical assistance as a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) partner; coordinated the efforts of student interns in Northfield's College Board of Business Consultants (CBBC); and worked closely with City staff to provide information and service to companies requiring certain kinds of assistance.

It is to be hoped, and seems likely, that the NEC and the EDA will continue to partner in promoting the economic health and vitality of Northfield. I'll be blogging on new developments as they occur. For now, suffice it to say that there may be some exciting new directions for both organizations as we continue refining and reshaping our goals and objectives in response to the community's changing needs.

Full disclosure:

Continue reading "Economic Development and Enterprise" »

Posted by the Webmaster on March 21, 2006 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At this morning's EDA meeting, several actions were taken.

First, we reviewed and final 2006 work plan assignments; the person in parenthesis for each item is the point person person for that initiative. These initiatives include, but are not limited to:

• Enhancing the relationship and communication between the EDA and City Council (Bill Cowles)
  
• Implementation of the Q-Block redevelopment project (after the Master Plan has been approved and adopted by Council) (Galen Malecha)
  
• Increasing land resources for business and industrial expansion (Rick Estenson)
  
• Monitoring Rice County economic development initiatives (Dixon Bond)
  
• Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) (yours truly)
  
• Housekeeping - review of EDA organizational structure and practices (Bill Cowles)

Next, we approved a funding request of $45,000 for the Northfield Enterprise Center. This was planned and budgeted last year. The NEC was initially founded as an initiative of the EDA, and the NEC mission is viewed as an implementation arm of the EDA's function as a body.

Since we were in the mood to spend money, we also approved a $5000 contribution to the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, which has provided grants, loans, management and technical assistance to several core Northfield businesses, such as All-Flex, the recent recipient of the Chamber's "Business of the Year' award for 2006. This expenditure had also been planned and budgeted for 2006.

Then we approved the commitment to issue a lease revenue bond to fund the construction of the new community swimming pool. There was some discussion about the timing and advisability of this move, in light of several factors including the potential for partnering with the prospective YMCA, but the resolution was approved on a 4-2 vote.

Finally, there was some discussion of the move of College City Beverage from Northfield to Dundas, including the desire to learn as much as possible from both the process and the outcome, and create and inform new strategies for business retention as much as lies within our power given our limited land options.

That's a wrap.

Posted by the Webmaster on February 23, 2006 07:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tonight, the EDA and City staff were invited to meet with the Northfield Downtown Development Corporation for "Beer & Brats" at the Rueb-N-Stein. There was no agenda for the meeting, just an opportunity for both organizations to get to know each other and to discuss ideas and issues of mutual relevance. Ross Currier, Executive Director of the NDDC, opened things up by thanking everyone for attending, and asking what the NDDC could do to support the EDA in their mission.

Continue reading "The Meeting of the Acronyms (EDA and NDDC)" »

Posted by the Webmaster on February 7, 2006 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It’s a pretty sorry day when what were perhaps the dullest five minutes of EDA meeting history become the portion of the meeting commented and speculated on so widely—and so wildly.

In case anyone missed the Northfield News story, or the Editor’s comments on the subject, or any of the discussion on Northfield.org’s “Issues” list, here’s what happened:

Continue reading "EDA Leadership Non-Crisis: The Mystery Revealed" »

Posted by the Webmaster on January 18, 2006 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The EDA held its regularly scheduled meeting this morning. Agenda items included some administrative housekeeping items, an update on the City website (details below) discussion of the Q-Block master plan (ditto), discussion of the status of EDA funding (more on that in future posts), and of most immediate interest, a presentation by the New Division Development Company of their plans for infill redevelopment on the parcel occupied by Lansing Hardware.

Continue reading "Meeting Summary, Aug. '05" »

Posted by the Webmaster on August 11, 2005 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)