Northfield Councilors Plan Flood Response Priorities

There may be no such thing as a foolproof plan against the kind of 100-year flood that hit Northfield last September.

But city councilors tried to prepare all the same, approving a resolution codifying the city's priorities for flood response. After addressing life-threatening and serious injurie,s the city will direct resources to ensure safety of those responding to floods. 

The preservation of city buildings, coordinating volunteers and attending to businesses and residences round out much of the end of the list.

Councilors also discussed several sites for a new , raising concerns about the distance of some sites from the town's center and about a lack of specific cost estimates for each site.

City Engineer Katy Gehler said estimates are hard to produce before contractors bid on the project. 

Councilors will likely take up the issue, with more estimates for each of the sites under consideration, at their next meeting.

IN OTHER NEWS

Councilors instructed Director of Public Safety Mark Taylor to prepare an ordinance that would hold the owner of a property responsible for underage consumption of alcohol there.

Taylor said the proposed social host ordinance would be more effective than state law, which does not hold the host of an offending party responsible. Under the ordinance the property owner could face up to 90 days in jail and/or $1,000 fine.