In a 5-1 vote, the Northfield City Council on Tuesday voted for separate facilities for the fire and police departments.

Mayor Mary Rossing abstained from voting, while Councilor Rhonda Pownell was the lone dissenter. 

The council approved to move ahead with purchasing a 4.2-acre site behind the Perkins Family Restaurant. That site would be used for a new police station, as well as house training and administrative room for the fire department, but the firetrucks would remain at the current Safety Center site.

Last week, the council spoke in favor of the Central Valley Co-op site as a joint facility because it believed the city could save money if both departments were housed togeter in a new place, but changed its mind on Tuesday.

The council approved to spend $10.7 million on a joint safety center in November 2010, but has since talked about ways to trimming that amount by about $2 million. Two options presented last week by Councilors Ivan Imms and Rhonda Pownell showed estimates below $9 million, according to city documents. Both those figures, however, were for joint facilities.

The council has authorized a bond study of the city's bonded debt for current and potential municipal projects with a focus on the impact of the city's property tax levy long term. 

Editor's note: This post has been corrected to say the council last week spoke in favor of the Central Valley Co-op site instead of voting in favor of it.

Be sure to follow Northfield Patch on Twitter, "Like" us on Facebook, and sign up for our newsletter, which sends you updates about stories, breaking news, announcements, events and blogs on our site.