6:00 PM – Call to Order
Mayor Zweifel makes statement about community and current events, including immigration actions, and how deeply troubling they are. Praises city police and sheriff for their professionalism and commitment to deescalation. Reiterates Northfield’s intent to maintain an open community. On behalf of the city, calls on federal officers to honor the constitution, pursue deescalation, and to protect free speech. Northfield remains committed to the common good for all residents, workers, etc. Cites the Community Action Center as a resource for Northfield residents. Continue to lead with care, clarity, and steadfast commitment to the community.
Open to Public Comment
None
Approval of the Agenda – moved, seconded, and approved
Chief Schroepfer (PD) – Swearing in of new Police Officer
Difficult times in this profession, and so little we can do about this. Swearing in Officer Fernando Sanchez-Elioza. Born in Mexico and came to the US at young age, grew up in SoCal and moved to Faribault. Attended Faribault High School and began a criminal justice degree but decided to put it aside to help family experiencing health issues. Became a reserve officer in Faribault. Decided to pursue a career in law enforcement, completing degrees in Law Enforcement. Accepted the position here in 2025. Enjoys helping his fellow officers with Spanish-speaking communities. Hopes to make a positive impact in the city of Northfield and his community.
Sworn in.
Consent Agenda
Passed in one motion.
Reports
CM Ness: Nothing since last meeting.
CM Peterson White: Nothing since last meeting.
CM Sokup: Attended Mayor’s Youth Council Meeting on Jan. 7th. Prepared questions about our role on council and how certain things work. Great group of youth and would encourage other councilmembers to attend one of their meetings.
CM Beumer: Had a Northfield Beyond the Yellow Ribbon meeting and main topic of discussion is omelet breakfast fundraiser, Feb. 15 8:30am. All profits support local veteran and military families.
CM Dahlen: Nothing since last meeting.
CM Holmes: Attended community meeting for construction projects, Jefferson Pkwy and Mill Town Trail, great to see that project closer to getting going. Attended Planning Commission meeting and they discussed rezoning a corner, coming to City Council in February. Attended MLK celebration, really well done and a good time to be in community and thank you to the community that showed up. Finally, attended today for the 2nd Congressional District, county and city commissioners, sheriffs, city administrators, etc. for understanding our rights, especially with immigration issues, what Angie Craig can do to help, residents and the city. Representatives from the ACLU there with updates on what they are trying to move at the policy level. Some really good information there and many ways to share it to our residents. As a note to the statement the Mayor made, thank you, I sign on to that whole heartedly. People are looking to city leaders to stand up and be just, and I take our oath to uphold the Constitution very close to the heart.
Mayor Zweifel: Adds acknowledgements for the event yesterday (MLK) and the winners of awards.
Regular Agenda
Dresden Hill Playground Improvement
Bruce Jacobson, landscape architect: Wanting to get this through to the bidding process. Does match up with objectives in the Comprehensive Plan and the Pedestrian and Bike Plan, along with the Open Space and Trail Plan. We are in a cycle where we are looking at many of the parks, because they were made around the same time. Playground is placed high up on a hill above the street, a lot of the plans will do with access. Using the geography to add in slides and climbing structures, along with access ramps. Have had a number of neighborhood meetings and have gotten good feedback, lots of variety. Started out with evaluating starting equipment and for Dresden Hill most of it was in such a condition that it wasn’t in code, or they didn’t even make parts anymore, so we’re replacing most of the equipment. Keeping the short zipline and the short monkey bars, the rest will be removed. Found someone who will carefully remove, salvage, and find new homes for the playground equipment – won’t be going into the landfill and will reuse as much as possible.
CM Beumer: The portable toilet enclosure, first how do we access it and why would we put it all the way at the back of the park?
Jacobson: That’s basically where it’s been the entire time. It is up at the top near the playground, rather than down by the road. In this plan, we’ve provided better paths to access the bathroom. In other parks, we’ve had proposals that move the porta-potty near the road, and we’ve gotten the opposite feedback of people wanting it closer to the park so fewer people are walking past.
CM Beumer: Where is the better access?
Jacobson: Right now, there is only a mulch and lawn pathway. The new access is a series of ramps to get up the hill with paved pathways to the 2-4 structure and then the walk continues up to the bathroom area. Right now there is an opening in the fence where there is quite a bit of pedestrian traffic, so we’ve reached out to Viking Terrace to continue the paved pathway into that area to improve access but haven’t heard back.
CM Holmes: This is something that the Parks Board, before being retired, worked with Jacobson on for quite a while. What we appreciate is the whimsy involved, the opportunity to play on the way up to the hill, excited to see this in the long over-due update to the park.
CM Beumer: I like the plan, I do have a little bit of a problem with the bathrooms being so far up and potential damage to the path and the lawn for access to the bathrooms. Really my only hangup, but think that it would make a little more sense to keep that accessible from the road so that we don’t have to drive up to get to it.
Mayor Zweifel: I really appreciate the use of the topography and the creative use of that along with drawing the park all the way down to the sidewalk. I also appreciate that the city is investing in it, the last time it was the youth through an award.
Passes.
Central Park Playground Improvements
Jacobson: Had two meetings with HBC and similar background in terms of plans and meetings. Throughout the process, have had really good meetings. Did get some feedback that the public notice for the park was very soon, so acknowledges that and will be better in the coming plans. The equipment is better, and in really good shape only requiring minor repairs and paint. Again, benches facing each other and improving access is something that has come out of meeting with HBC. Adding some equipment and moving a few pieces around. Want to highlight that the existing porta potty, CM Beumer, is closer to the road and maybe we can find a solution for Dresden Hill. Adding in a curb cut and ramp, which anecdotally will really improve the experience.
CM Holmes: Echo sentiments from before, and will add that this is the park that my children played at and looking forward to seeing these improvements and keeping it a fun space with the constraints of a historical place.
CM Sokup: I appreciate these improvements in both these two parks. Excited to see it.
Mayor Zweifel: I appreciate the focus on sustainability in both plans, especially the reusing and repurposing of pieces in Dresden Park.
Passes.
Local Sales Tax
Adm. Martig: The presentation is similar to the prior council meeting where we had a discussion on the interest in a potential local sales tax. We had a supplemental that we sent out today that our legal counsel looked over, to ensure we are in compliance with legislative requirements and bond restrictions. One of strategic goals was to diversify revenue sources. This is really the once chance we have to use it during the strategic plan. Also, alignment with Comprehensive Plan, not being over reliant on property taxes, etc. One of the most important reasons why these are used is because it allows non-residents to contribute to the improvement of the city. Projects in the resolution, NCRC: looking at potentially adding solar or geo energy, along with essential CIP costs; Library: essential CIP costs on exterior and interior, including things like accessibility; and Riverfront Park Projects: essential CIP riverfront costs to improve accessibility and safety. Will be opportunities for fine-tuning between the legislature and the public. We are seeking state bond funds for the food shelf expansion; this would not be able to contribute to the food shelf expansion directly. Did change a little of the cost estimates, because we had assumed that we would be doing debt bonds, in which case we would need to pay back interest. These new figures are rounded up assuming that we would not be undertaking bonds initially. Now, NCRC $2.8 million, Library $2.8 million, and Riverfront Park $7.5 million. These are maximums, we could always do less, but better to use the upper estimates for the legislature. We did remove the 3rd Street parking, even though there was interest and it is a more emerging issue, it seemed from last meeting that in terms of project readiness the Riverfront Projects had more support. In terms of police parking, we didn’t hear consensus from the broader council, and even though we could argue some regionalism, the combination of the scope of that project ($900,000) and regional impact, it would be less strong in the legislature. We might need to also look at locations for more spaces for bathrooms, but we have time to explore where we could look at integrating bathrooms in places around the Riverfront. Needs to be submitted to the legislature by the 31st of January, then we would start working with legislatures on language and lobbying. If it passed in an election, there would be another approval needed before the end of the year before it would be put to construction plans, which would require more approvals.
CM Sokup: Just curious with the local option sales tax, is it required that you bond? or do some cities capture the revenue and then do projects when they have the funds needed?
Adm. Martig: you are not required to use debt, but from a practical standpoint, the cash you need to do a project, assuming you don’t want to use property taxes, time is money, so waiting can make construction more expensive. You can have a combination too, there might be some projects that might need a little more time, like the Riverfront, you could do multiple debt issuances at different times. I’d have to do more research on cities, but I could do that.
Sokup: you are not issuing debt until you go out, like you would do a typical project?
Martig: Yes, it is kind of like the high school project right now, you go through all the approvals along the way.
Mayor Zweifel: Can you remind me what types of items would not be taxed? or would not be included in this tax?
Adm. Martig: Groceries, things that are not already prepared (rotisserie chicken vs. dry goods).
CM Peterson White: Clothing and groceries not taxable, and some exemptions for textbooks but not other types of books. Some schools and nonprofits will also not pay taxes on organizational items.
Adm. Martig: That is something we could have at the next meeting, a ramp up on the consumer side.
Mayor Zweifel: Something to keep in mind, especially in the public facing side about what is actually taxable.
CM Beumer moves resolution. Peterson White seconds.
CM Beumer: Received some emails and text messages, both for and against. My big thing with supporting this is the fact that it does reduce the amount of money that the local citizens and residents put toward these projects. It’s an alternative way to get done with some needed projects, my thing is just focusing on projects that are needed. Reality is that at the end of the day we can put what we want on the ballot, and in November the people will say they don’t want it. Citizen input is what we want, and with this it’s what you get.
CM Peterson White: I think this is a good package, and I thank city for putting it together. As someone who knowns just how many people come to Northfield, either for an activity for just to shop, and they enjoy our other amenities, like the parks and Riverfront. It makes all the sense in the world to give those visitors the opportunity to fund things. I look forward to public comment as well. I have not heard much from folks about this yet, I think one of the classic thing we’ve heard about from people is that some may be more inclined to shop in other places because of this, but as a realtor, people do not come here because it is the cheapest place to shop, it is because of the many amenities that we have. I look forward to discussing this and think this is a great starting point.
CM Sokup: Excited for the discussions we’ll have about this with residents. I am in full support. I think there is a concern among residents about taxes and think this is a way to offset the property tax burden in Northfield. It could be easily seen as an additional tax and I hope we can frame this in a way that it is a win for residents of Northfield. Another thing I want to note, is that the legislative session is going to be very short. Bill language can be drafted before session if you have an author, and people say that if you don’t have a bill drafted before session is started you’re not going to get it. Just want to note that session is super super short this year.
CM Holmes: This is important to get out there and keep all of our options open. I look forward to hearing from the community and educating the community, because there are some that might see these things as wants but they are not. You need stairs to get into buildings, etc. I think it will be a good opportunity to educate that if we don’t do it this way, it will need to be done another.
Mayor Zweifel: I appreciate the regional choices. I appreciate the opportunity to pursue this tool that hasn’t always been available to cities and I appreciate items were selected that were or are already part of our Plans, and this allows 40% of the burden to be undertaken by others. We will be looking to keep expanding our tax base, this is a yes and situation.
Administrator’s Update
Adm. Martig: Tax base growth, checked in with some staff for the EDA meeting. We’re having a work session tentatively planned for Feb. A lot of ideas starting to have around that, and you as councilmembers might want to chime in. Attended the MLK day event yesterday, thought it was timely and a great event. The Human Rights Commission worked alongside city staff for this event, and I enjoyed seeing that collaboration and, like many city events, I came away learning things. Reminder, you adopted the amendment that changed the schedule, since our usual schedule fell on caucus night. Immigration issue again, we are going to continue to add information to the webpage. As CM Holmes, Northfield was called out as to the training we’ve had and working with the Chamber of Commerce and bringing in legal teams for preparing for a I9 audit. We are anticipating that we will see more compliance checks in relation to that, so we are preparing for that and sharing more communication with business owners. Speaking of deadlines, we don’t always have the pulse of what is going on. We do have language on the bonding request already drafted and are working to get our legislators on board and are ramping up getting our legislative language worked out.
CM Ness and Beumer move to adjourn.
