NORTHFIELD — The new council has two resolutions: determine how best to engage the public and establish a decision-making process.
If the council can complete those tasks and use its processes religiously, Mayor-elect Mary Rossing believes council work should be significantly less painful.
Each task, discussed Friday at a six-hour council retreat, will be fleshed out by a subcommittee of its members, who will report back to the entire group on Feb. 9.
Engaging the public won’t be a one-way process. The subcommittee will discuss taking input at council meetings, ward meetings and at larger town-hall style gatherings, as well as how to get information out to the public. The group will also consider the effectiveness of each city board and commission and whether some should be discontinued or should meet less frequently, a move that would save staff time and money.
The council’s decision-making process is expected to involve a number of steps and should clarify for staff members what type of information the council wants and when.
Rossing said she suggested the gathering to allow the council, which on Monday welcomes three new members, time to get to know one another, build trust and learn to work cooperatively.
“We can disagree,” Rossing said Friday, “but we don’t have to be disagreeable.”
During the meeting, the council, with facilitator Hans Muessig, worked through each member’s expectations and discussed how to move forward.
The previous council was criticized as openly hostile toward outgoing mayor, Lee Lansing, who in October was charged with abusing his office; unable to work as a unit; and for what was alternately seen as indifference to or bowing to public pressure.
Rossing, along with incoming councilors Betsey Buckheit and Erica Zweifel, and the recently inaugurated Rhonda Pownell, who took her seat last month, campaigned this fall promising to work collaboratively and rebuild Northfield’s tarnished reputation.
— Suzanne Rook can be reached at srook@northfieldnews.com or 645-1113.
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