The past few weeks we have been working at finishing up a remodeling project for John Tymoczko and Alison Unger on Elm Street.

It is a nice project that includes remodeling the kitchen and dining area, and adding a new covered entry onto Fourth Street.

Northfield Construction Company's commitment to quality work and customer satisfaction really is evident in projects such as this. John and Alison have had us provide remodeling services for them at least four pervious times. We have replaced windows, remodeled bathrooms, added a family room, etc. over the years. We all appreciate a customer that allows us to continue working with them on a long term basis.

The other good benefit for continued relationships is for the client. When we worked on the Tymoczko home a few years ago we knew the kitchen project was being contemplated. We were able to make some structural accommodations in our earlier project that made the current kitchen work flow much more smoothly. When a builder is familiar with a home it is much easier to plan the work and the pricing for the work reflects those efficiencies.

Posted by Ray Cox at 9:46 AM | Link

 
Last Tuesday, Ellen, Tristan and I attended a meeting about the re-use of the former Northfield City Hospital on First Street.

Joel West, Asst. City Administrator (center) and Dan Dimick, Reuse Committee member (right).

The meeting was held in the old hospital and about 85 area residents attended the meeting along with city staff and elected officials. It was both good to see so many folks interested in the old hospital site, and also to have one last look in the building. (See the photo gallery of the open house on the Northfield.org site.)

The old hospital holds a real soft spot in our hearts for Ellen and me. All our children were born in the hospital. We ran down to the hospital with children bleeding from cuts and needing stitches. We whisked a daughter to the hospital when a fever got dangerously high. We were able to walk over many, many times to be with Aunt Myrtle as she was cared for by the great staff at the Dilley Nursing Home unit.

Now that our wonderful new hospital is up and running in the northwest corner of town, the old hospital site must be dealt with. The city council formed a "Re-Use Committee" to examine possible options and solutions. Those folks have been working hard. The purpose of the meeting on Tuesday was to present some concept site plans, gather feedback from the wider community and inform people what has been done so far. Lots of information.

There is one sticky area that has not been addressed well up to this point, namely, should the land revert to park land. The land the old hospital sits on was given to the City of Northfield by the Way sisters in the early 1900's, for use as a park. In the early 1930's when the city needed to build a hospital, the Way sisters agreed to let the city use a portion of Way Park for hospital building, with the stipulation that when it was no longer needed as a hospital, it be returned to park land. Since that time statutes have been adopted by the State that allow this type of restriction to run for about 30 years.....after that period of time the city can decide what the best use of the property is.

At the meeting Tuesday I expressed my opinion that the City needs to address this park land issue up front and immediately. It seems to be a waste of energy to prepare and discuss residential re-use development options if the city council agrees with the terms of the land gift and wants to return the land to park land. If the city council does not want to return the land to park land, then I feel that should be stated up front and then move on to discuss possible re-use and development ideas.

I hope the Northfield City Council will soon deal with the park land question directly. Allowing the park issue to be mixed in with the re-use and development plans creates a bit of a muddy concept, and complicates the issue.

Posted by Ray Cox at 4:11 AM | Link

 
Yesterday afternoon I attended a production of Over and Back at the high school auditorium. The weather was a bit stormy, but the auditorium was full. Those of us in attendance were treated to a wonderful production of music and entertainment.

Besides the Bleacher Girls, and the Over and Back band, this production featured Harmonious Wail visiting from Madison, Wisconsin. Harmonious Wail performs with a double bass, a mandolin, a guitar and a rhythm box. This group fit right in with the Over and Back production and was fun to hear.

Northfield Construction Company signed up this year to be a backer of Over and Back. The funds raised from each production benefits a different community event or organization. This show was raising funds for the Northfield Union of Youth, and Women's Edition. I'm pleased that Northfield Construction Company can help support Over and Back....giving support to the artists that perform, the organizations being funded, and allowing the community a chance to enjoy a great musical production.

Posted by Ray Cox at 3:23 AM | Link

 
Late last month we started a new building for Pumper Plumbing and Heating. The building is going up on the south side of Dundas. A pre-engineered all steel structure, it should serve Pumper Plumbing's needs for many years.


Pumper Plumbing and Heating has leased space in the Northfield Construction Company building for some time....since taking over the space and operations from Thompson Plumbing. Pumper Plumbing performs the plumbing and heating work on many of our construction projects. We've enjoyed working with them and look forward to continuing to do so in the future. While it has been very easy for us to stay in close contact when we are all in the same building, I don't expect any problems with service related to their move to Dundas.

I will say that I am frustrated that Pumper Plumbing has to leave Northfield and relocate to Dundas. I worked with Keith Pumper to find a suitable location for his service business in Northfield for several months. There was not one site available and ready for construction that both met zoning requirements and size requirements. The same thing happened to Lonsdale Painting when they constructed their new facility, which included Trimcote prefinishing operations. I am working with another business that is looking at a site in Dundas as well.

The City of Northfield needs to address this situation. It isn't healthy to have businesses start in Northfield, but have to leave town to grow and expand. Northfield needs this commercial tax base. This problem may be overlooked because the jobs created really do stay in the general Northfield community.

However, when businesses like Pumper Plumbing are located out of town, it becomes much easier to pick up some emergency pipe fittings from Menards rather than Lansing Hardware or Ace Hardware. It is easier to eat lunch with salepeople at Applebee's rather than the Ranch House. Multiply these actions by several hundred transactions per year and local businesses start closing. All of us in Northfield are hurt when businesses close their doors.

Posted by Ray Cox at 5:19 AM | Link

 
I attended the Northfield High School production of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" last Friday evening. The students did a wonderful job with the musical play. While I don't have children in the high school any longer, I do get to see neighbors and friends children. I also was able to watch my neice in the production.

As I sat in the totally full auditiorium, I couldn't help but think about all the work that went into creating the excellent space. When I was on the school board we worked at passing the bond issue before the voters, worked to design the auditorium, then worked to re-design the auditorium because prices came in too high, etc. We even had one of the very high masonry walls collapse during spring winds. However, we got all those tasks finished and opened a great new high school performing arts space. Now the whole community gets to enjoy the fruits of all that work.

As I've said before, a strong school system is an important component to a strong community. Northfield, both the schools and the community, is experiencing solid, consistent growth. That growth and added tax base allows our commuinity to be healthy and attend to resident needs.

Posted by Ray Cox at 12:33 PM | Link

 

Ellen and I spent a fun filled evening Saturday at the Grand in Northfield with friends from the community at a fundraiser for Laura Baker Services (LBS). Laura Baker Services operates an intermediate care facility for mentally retarded....ICF/MR... in Northfield. A century old school and care facility, it does a wonderful job assisting and taking care of this vulnerable segment of our society.

Northfield Construction Company has been a supporter of Laura Baker Services for a long time in a variety of ways. For the past six years LBS has held a Gala fundraiser, complete with silent and live auction, social hour, and dinner. It is a great time to get together with folks, visit, come away with some auction items...all the while supporting a fantastic organization.

NCC was a table sponsor for the Gala event this year, along with several other local businesses such as Professional Design Group, College City Beverage, Heartman Insurance and several others. Ellen and I enjoyed the table company of my sister Jennifer and her husband Bill, Doug and Mary Jones from Nerstrand, and Charlie and Diane Kyte. Charlie is the former school Superintendent in Northfield and now heads the Minnesota Association of School Administrators . Charlie and I went from seeing each other on a very regular basis when I was on the school board, to not seeing each other so much when he took his new job, to seeing each other again regularly now that I serve in the Legislature.

I was able to visit with and welcome Dr. Richard Goodwin and Steve Kelly to the LBS Board of Trustees. The third new Trustee, Chris Sawyer from College City Beverage, was out trying his luck deer hunting. We thanked Dixon Bond for his many years of service on the LBS Board of Trustees. Dixon and Mike Hero were tireless workers when LBS was going through some financial difficulties years ago.

LBS is a solid, well run home that is serving current needs and looking to the future. Northfield Construction Company has just started a multi-year building program for them.

Our first project is a new 6 resident home. In the past few weeks we installed the foundation, underground plumbing and utilities and are now ready to lay the concrete floor and get onto the carpentry work. When this project is completed we will build two more 6 unit homes, then do some remodeling work in the existing buildings. I'll be posting photos of the project as we move along with it. We are all hoping for warmer weather this week to help us as we do some of the concrete work.

I'm glad to provide financial suport, Legislative support and construction services to LBS. Someone once said a society is judged by how it cares for its most vulnerable citizens. I can personally say LBS provides the best care possible for the vulnerable residents under LBS care.

Posted by Ray Cox at 5:58 PM | Link

 
Northfield Construction is a featured case study in a research report titled, Business Blogs: How Successful Companies Get Real Results With Weblogs.


Other Northfield area businesses included: Norman Butler at The Contented Cow and Chapati, Ed Kuhlman at Kuhlman Auction Services, and Griff Wigley, Wigley and Associates. See Griff's companion site for his forthcoming book, Small Business Blogging.

It is still a bit strange for me to see my blogs featuered in "official" business meetings, publications, etc. You may remember that I started this whole blog dialog in January after I was elected to the Minnesota State Legislature. Around that time I had an interview with John Gordon from National Public Radio for his "Future Tense" program about blogging as he did a report on the blogging world. I've enjoyed interacting with people in a legislative capacity as well as in my construction company capacity using this format.

It is a welcoming feeling to have someone talk to me about a blog posting on my company site. A couple of weeks ago I had an electronic contact from a potential client. In his message he said to me "I found your company on the internet and read about you. You sound like my kind of company." He was referring to some of the community events and activities I had noted, but also to the remodeling portfolio.

As I've said before, it seems like I've had a warp speed introduction to the electronic world in the past year. I went from never sending an email to sending hundreds some days, from never using the internet to regular contacts and searches with the internet. I've grown to rather like the electronic world and thank Griff Wigley for helping me navigate it and continue to help me develop my skills in this area.

Posted by Ray Cox at 3:45 AM | Link

 
In my September 22, 2003 blog entry I noted that Northfield Construction Company was donating some work on the new multiple dwelling units the Community Action Center is working on. I discovered I created some confusion!

NCC will not be siding the triplex as I stated....we will be siding the four-plex building. I was mixed up on the projects. Jasnoch Construction is working on the triplex and will be doing the siding work for that building. I will be working with several other contractors to complete the four-plex building.

Work is progressing along well on both the triplex and four-plex buildings.

Posted by Ray Cox at 2:02 PM | Link

 
Yesterday Jim Sawyer, owner of College City Beverage in Northfield and President of the Northfield Chamber of Commerce, had a letter to the editor in the Northfield News about business growth. In it, Jim noted that expansion and growth of Northfield's commercial business core is so very important to the health of the city. I couldn't agree more.

Like many "ex-urban" communities a short drive from the metro area, Northfield is experiencing solid residential growth. That helps keep our schools full and population growing. It also brings work to businesses like Northfield Construction Company for new homes, remodeling, additions, etc. However, a city cannot sustain rapid residential growth without corresponding commercial growth. Northfield has been doing a fair job with commercial growth, but it is not without significant effort and some controversies.

In the past couple of years there have been proposals for many new businesses that have not moved forward due to city processes. Examples of this are the Walgreen's proposal downtown, some plans in the Heritage Business Park, etc. I get concerned that Northfield doesn't have an adequate vision for the future that incorporates much needed commercial expansion.

I am currently frustrated with the city process as it has been applied....or not applied...to Dean Kjerland's concept for a second building on Water Street, immediately adjacent to his newly completed Cannon River Walk Condominiums building. His plan for the new building would redevelop Jerry Fink's barbershop site and would require acquistion of vacant city land behind Jerry's Barber. Dean has proposed a three story brick building with an elevator for this site. This plan would re-develop a significantly underutilized area of town and also add hundreds of thousands of dollars in commercial tax base.

Dean first approached city staff months ago and requested that the basic concept be endorsed and accepted by the end of September. That was needed in order to give a comfort level for a planned first floor tenant in the new building. This time frame has not worked at all for the city....nothing has happened. The most recent communication from the city indicates they will need another six months to decide if they can support this plan.

If commercial developments are going to happen, the city needs to get behind them and make them work. Dean's plan fits both the comprehensive plan and current zoning regulations. Is his plan a "slam dunk" deal? No...it needs good people examining alternate locations for the handicap path. Is Dean's plan going to hang around in limbo for months and months? No...it will die a slow death if action isn't taken. Maybe that is what the city wants to happen, but I'd sure like to see another new building on Water Street paying commercial tax rates.

Process is a fine thing, but process can stall out projects. At some point someone needs to take charge from the city and get things moving. Northfield has a Downtown Development Council, a Chamber of Commerce, an Industrial Corporation, a business entreprenuer area, and on and on. Those are all great, but none of them will work if there is a lack of basic needed action and a real desire to facilitate commercial growth.

Posted by Ray Cox at 3:50 AM | Link

 
Northfield Construction Company has agreed to be a corporate sponsor for one of the decorated trees at the Northfield Arts Guild festival in December. The best part of this is that I was able to grab the sponsorship of my sister's tree, Sarah Currier.

Sarah does the most fantastic tree decorations....everyone waits to see what her tree theme will be. She is a wonderfully creative person that really cares about and gets into holiday decorations of all sorts. I think she inherited the holdiay decorating genes from our mother, Marjorie Cox, who would never let us sit at a dinner table that didn't have a centerpiece decoration on it.

Everyone here at NCC will anxiously wait to see what Sarah does to her tree!

Posted by Ray Cox at 8:42 AM | Link

 
Yesterday the voters in the Northfield school district approved the operating levy on the ballot. Roughly 57% of the voters gave approval of this important levy referendum. The levy will generate approximately $3 million of funds for the Northfield schools for each of the next four years. $2.25 million of this will come from the District taxpayers, and another $750,000 from the state from the levy equalization program.

It is wonderful to see this great local support for this school levy. Strong schools build strong communities, and strong communities have good jobs. Our board, teachers and administrators do an excellent job running our schools....I think the Northfield schools are some of the best in the state.

Congratulations to the Citizens for Quality Education/Vote Yes committee, teachers, staff and most importantly, the voters who approved this important operating levy.

Posted by Ray Cox at 4:13 AM | Link