Q&A: Northfield Administrator Tim Madigan Sits Down With Patch

Tim Madigan has been Northfield's administrator since March and before that served six months as the city's interim administrator. With the New Year upon us, Northfield Patch thought it'd be a good time to catch up with Madigan, who spent 20 years as Faribault's top official before coming to Northfield.

In this Q&A with Patch, Madigan reflects on his past 16 months in Northfield, addresses issues and challenges facing the river city and shares what he sees ahead in 2012.

WHO IS TIM MADIGAN?
Age: 62 
Family: Wife, Wendie; two adult daughters and a grandson
Education: Bachelor’s in history from Minnesota State University—Moorhead, Master’s in urban management from Minnesota State University—Mankato

Northfield Patch: Why was the Northfield position attractive to you? 

Tim Madigan: Both for personal and professional reasons—obviously the location in Rice County and the fact that I had a lot of interaction with people in Northfield the past 27 years when I was Faribault and Waseca. There was a lot of natural interaction, so I knew quite a few people over here. I like the community and always thought well of it. Professionally, it was an opportunity to apply my management skills … in a town that has a lot of challenges. I enjoy challenges. So that was an attraction.

Northfield Patch: Did outgoing administrator Joel Walinski give you any advice?

Madigan: Joel was a big help in making the transition and I appreciated his insights into the position and Northfield and so forth. I think he did a nice job in setting a base to work from. We had a lot of talks on a variety of issues—not in terms of anyone particular piece of advice, but just in general, he gave a lot of good background on the community and operations.

Northfield Patch: You weren’t even on the job for a month when Northfield experienced what is now dubbed as the . What was it like to navigate through that?

Madigan: It was actually a valuable experience for me to get a deeper understanding of Northfield. And for those few days, I met a lot of people and interacted with a lot of city employees—I had the opportunity to observe our police and fire, streets department and interact with them. That was a great experience, as well as interacting with people in the downtown area and talking with owners affected. So, actually, it turned out to be a positive experience for me even though I was new on the job and getting acquainted. I understand how the incident command system works for a public emergency like this, so my role is to kind of facilitate between the election officials on the council as well as the public safety departments, while stepping back and letting them do their jobs. They know what to do and how to do it.

Northfield Patch: What has been the most rewarding part of being in Northfield?

Madigan: I think interacting with various community groups and individuals. Northfield has a lot of things going on, a lot of active groups. It's always fun to be able to facilitate and work with the various community members.

Northfield Patch: What has been the most challenging part?

Madigan: Just the volume of work and projects, because there are a lot of community groups. Many of the projects themselves aren't particularly large, but you have a lot of contacts and a lot of issues. Plus, there are a number of internal city issues that are still being worked on, like the . We went through a big transition in our information technology system. I think just the volume of work and the projects to manage.

Northfield Patch: We’re nearly at year’s end, what do you want the city and council accomplish in 2012?

Madigan: Certainly to resolve the public safety center issue and address the needs of those two departments I think is critical. It's a discussion that has gone on for a long time, and rightfully so, because it's a big project. But hopefully we can reach a final decision. There are a number of projects as we move forward. One of the important things I think is the city's infrastructure—the streets, water and sewer, and so forth. That's one of things I noticed, Northfield had been lagging behind on its street maintenance and improvement. An effort had already been under way to increase that, so I want to keep the momentum going and find revenue to be able to do that. The city has 75 miles of streets. If you don't continuously invest in those streets, sooner or later you're going to have a big bill come due. So it's better to do a few miles every year than waiting for it all to fall apart. So I think finding the right strategy to do that as well as the financing is one of the important challenges in terms of long-term benefits for the city. 

Northfield Patch: What do you view as some of the bigger challenges or issues facing Northfield in the coming year?

Madigan: The budget is going to be, for I think a number of years, a challenge. Northfield is fortunate they're financially in good position. Because the city receives $1.5 million in Local Government Aid. That seems stable for right now but it could change at anytime. The city has already absorbed about a $1.6 million cut in state aid and has done a good job of managing their budget. But we will next year be talking about both short-term and long-term strategies with local government.

Northfield Patch: Many people were familiar with you because you spent nearly 20 years as Faribault’s administrator. How are the cities alike?

Madigan: They’re both regional centers, but they kind of have the small-town flavored historic downtowns with the expanding and growth areas on the edge of the communities. They have a great sense of community. I think that’s one of the real values as opposed to some of the suburban communities, perhaps—that’s not true for all suburban communities, but a lot of them don't have the same sense of community and interaction that we have here.

Northfield Patch: How are they different?

Madigan: The demographics of the communities are different. The economic basis is different with Northfield and the colleges and a large company like Malt-O-Meal in terms of its tax base. Faribault has a more diverse tax base and more emphasis on manufacturing. And being on on the interstate creates a different dynamic for them as well.

Northfield Patch: For those Northfielders who may not pay attention to city business, what would you want them to know about the city?

Madigan: The one take away about city government that people don’t realize, which may be good, is that our services are there—we provide the basics so other people can conduct their business and engage in other activities and so forth. City government is very up close and personal, but hopefully it’s also kind of a silent partner. We come to peoples' homes in multiple way from plowing streets, to water and sewer, to police protection. These are all support services for the community, whether it's the downtown or recreation programs. We're kind of the basis from which allows other people to do their activities.

Northfield Patch: And what would you want them to know about you?

Madigan: I’ve enjoyed my time in Northfield. It’s been challenging and also exciting. The other day I was visiting with the Lions Club. They’re a good example of a community organization that’s out there to provide services. That's something I noticed about Northfield is there's a really strong emphasis on service and volunteerism. That's been really impressive.

Northfield Patch: There’s been some attention paid to a perceived conflict among members of the council with each other and with city staff, with outgoing Councilor Kris Vohs saying that played a role into his pending departure. How do you view the relationship among councilors and staff and how important are those relationships when it comes to city business?

Madigan: On one hand, there's inevitably a certain degree of conflict in government, especially at the political level because it's an exchange of ideas and agendas that people have. That's part of the natural process. You're not always going to get people to vote unanimously on every agenda item. People have different opinions and that's good. That's part of the process. I do think civility in government is important. There needs to be some ground rules on how everyone treats each other. That's basically the idea you treat people with respect, even if you disagree with them or don't like them. As human beings, we have that obligation to treat each other respectfully.

Northfield Patch: You’re approaching what many people would consider retirement age, how long do you see yourself in this position?

Madigan: That’s an unknown—as long as I’m feeling I’m being productive and providing a valuable service to the community and to the city. Right now, I don’t have any particular dates and still consider myself young, even though I am 62.