Last week was packed with meetings and here’s the quick recap:

1. Thursday’s Special (and closed) Council Meeting: The News and Locally Grown have both reported on the outcome of this meeting.  After reviewing 5 proposals for land (and sometimes building) sales for a new municipal liquor store, the Council in closed session, the Council reopened the meeting to vote unanimously to reject all offers and authorize the OSHA required repairs to the current store (which will cost less than initially anticipated).

2. Wednesday’s Joint Government Meeting held at Greenvale’s (new) Town Hall.  These meetings are held quarterly and are attended by supervisors from Greenvale, Northfield, Bridgewater and Waterford townships, County Commissioners from Rice and Dakota Counties, and Mayor/Council reps from Dundas and Northfield.   One purpose of the meetings is simply to be able to get to know each other and exchange information.   Another is to discuss how we can cooperate towards shared goals.  Transportation is often a topic, since roads run through many jurisdictions.  Wednesday, Joel Walinsky, Northfield’s Interim City Administrator, presented some preliminary info on how we might share services in the face of budget cuts.

3. Monday was a Council meeting and work session. See my post on the wind turbine.  The worksession included a report from the library board about their continued work toward an library expansion including possible parking solutions for the north end of Division Street.  The Council also directed staff to prepare a one year contract (this is standard) for Joel Walinski to serve as City Administrator to provide the continuity and “inside knowledge” we need as a new Council in the face of big budget cutting decisions.