Resident group wants to assist village in gathering public feedback

Northfield residents have formed a new group, Northfield Advocates, and yes, the pronunciation matters.

In fact, it is central to the group’s mission.

“‘Advocates,’ that’s a verb, not a noun, which is intentional,” said Christopher Hoerdemann, a member of the grassroots group. “The idea behind our group is that Northfield residents, not our group, will be the ones doing the advocating.”

Hoerdemann, who announced the group’s formation at Northfield’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, July 15, said Northfield Advocates’ goal is to serve as a channel for organized input from the community to the Northfield Village Board and staff.

He is one of 14 members listed on the group’s website, and among others, he is joined by Pamela Papadatos, a business owner and former Village Board candidate, and Barnaby Dinges, a former trustee.

The group will gather feedback from Northfield residents through online community surveys, the first of which is posted on its website and closes Aug. 1.

Northfield Advocates plans to draw attention to its surveys “grassroots and guerrilla style” as it starts out, Hoerdemann said in response to a question from Village President Tracey Mendrek. The group will use email and social media networks to spread the word.

The current survey is short — just three questions — and asks residents to suggest improvements they would like to see around the village.

Dinges noted that Northfield does not have a lot of amenities that its neighbors have, such as a bookstore and an ice cream parlor. Dinges said that while he likes to think he knows what the community wants, it is more important for the village government to see real data.

Following the survey’s expiration, all data will be accessible on the Northfield Advocates’ website, Hoerdemann said. While the data will be organized, it will neither be edited nor presented to push an agenda, he added.

“We’re here to collect insights and to help ensure residents’ voices play a substantive role in the conversations that shape Northfield’s future,” Hoerdemann said.

Dinges said the group hopes to engage Northfield’s increasing number of young families in local government.

Other goals include building trust between residents and local government, as well as making the community more resilient, he added.

“We live in a time where there’s a lot of distrust across the county with government and how it works, and we certainly have some of that in Northfield,” Dinges said. “We want to get beyond that, and we feel like dialogue and engagement is an important part of just moving beyond that lack of trust.”

Hoerdemann said the group intentionally launched following Northfield’s newly sworn-in Village Board, which he said represents an opportunity to improve communication between residents and local government.

“We truly believe this effort can make a positive impact both as a conduit for resident perspectives and as a resource for the Village Board and staff,” he said.

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