About Northfield

Government
Northfield is a home rule charter City. The City Council is comprised of seven elected officials who legislate policy and govern, with the mayor serving as the presiding officer. Of the six council positions, there are four ward representatives and two at-large positions – all with staggered, four-year terms.
Read more about the City Council

Engaging the Community
The City enjoys a committed and involved citizenry, many of whom actively participate in local government affairs and offer perspective and insight to staff and elected officials. Community members participate on a host of commissions and task forces that add a grassroots element to local policy-making and implementation of plans and policies.

Vision
Northfield is an open, safe, and welcoming community, recognized for its world-class colleges and historic riverfront downtown, and is dedicated to sustainably enhancing and preserving its vibrant culture, celebrated arts, strong economy, and an excellent quality of life where all can thrive.

Mission
The City of Northfield works for the common good of our residents and businesses and the improvement of our community by providing excellent, innovative municipal services that carry out the City's vision for a high quality of life for all.

Values

Integrity

• Provide outstanding customer service
• Be open, honest, kind, respectful and accountable
• Demonstrate fiscal responsibility
• Act and communicate in authentic ways

Teamwork

• Actively participate in cooperative and collaborative approaches
• Commit to equity and the elimination of all discrimination
• Build on our shared successes as a means for workplace satisfaction
• Utilize the experience and expertise within our organization and community

Excellence & Innovation

• Serve by leading and lead by serving
• Focus on clearly defined outcomes to achieve best results
• Commit to continuous improvement building on lessons learned
• Seek creative solutions for difficult problems

Celebration

• Pursue and value diversity and inclusion, and welcome a broad range of perspectives
• Commemorate our unique and rich cultural sense of place
• Recognize others and their contributions
• Celebrate and acknowledge accomplishments

Stewardship

• Protect our physical environment through ecologically sustainable practices and policies
• Maintain, improve and develop high quality municipal assets
• Invest in others through advancement, mentorships and professional development
• Nurture personal well-being through physical and mental health initiatives

Strategic Plan and Priorities

The City of Northfield’s strategic plan set Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as one of our six priorities.  

A community that welcomes everyone:

• Increased transit options for all
• Staff and volunteers reflect community
• Improved access to City services for all demographics

View Northfield’s strategic plan

In July 2020, we adopted a Racial Equity Action Plan. We developed this plan because:

• It is a way to be intentional about institutional culture change.
• It will help us to design strategies to focus improvements. Developing racial equity plans and tools with all departments will help us better include racial equity as a factor in delivery of services and budgeting.
• Institutional racism is something ingrained into the fabric of many institutions in the United States. For the City, racial equity is about exploring our practices, service delivery and policies to help find ways to make our institution more racially equitable.
• Having a racial equity action plan will keep this work a priority for the City as we carry out our work and create our budgets.

Human Rights Commission

The City of Northfield has a Human Rights Commission whose purpose is to secure for all citizens equal opportunity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public services and education and full participation in the affairs of this community by assisting the state department of human rights in implementing the state human rights act and by advising the city council on long range programs to improve community relations in the city.