The Crookston Ways and Means Committee (Crookston City Council and Department Heads) met Monday evening after the City Council meeting in the council chambers and they approved moving forward on an electric car charging station in the parking lot at the old Wayne Hotel property. The City of Crookston would be responsible for the power usage expense, while Otter Tail Power would cover the cost of the charging system. In Bemidji, the cost varies from $5 – $25 per month in energy use. Another benefit to this project will be a city-owned power panel at the site. Several events are held at this location each year and lack of readily available power has been an issue. There is an electric charging corridor from Duluth to Bemidji and there isn’t a place for the public to charge their electric vehicle in Northwest Minnesota west of Bemidji. The charger station would allow the city to have hookups for events like the Downtown Crookston Development group and other functions that are held in the parking lot. Councilman Tom Vedbraaten didn’t like the fact that it is free and Crookston City Administrator Shannon Stassen said Otter Tail Power Company’s requirement is to keep it free. Councilman Steve Erickson said it is a win-win for the city for charging cars and the electric hookup for events that are held across from his store. Councilman Clayton Briggs said it will bring more things downtown and the charging station got unanimous approval for the councilmembers. “It doesn’t cost the city much and it is a great opportunity for us to enhance the city,” said Mayor Wayne Melbye. “The state is trying to get a corridor that people can travel on because you can get about 90 to 110 miles on a charge so if they plan their time and they charge in Bemidji and charge in Crookston they will come in here and shop downtown Crookston for 20 minutes to a half hour while their car is charging up, it is a win-win. This will be a perfect opportunity for us to partner up and get more things down at the corner.”
The COPS Grant application had to be pulled from the agenda because the grant application said the grant was for something new and couldn’t already be installed. The grant was for safety doors that were already put into Cathedral School, so they won’t be able to apply for the grant at this time. “It took our eligibility out because the door was already in place,” said Mayor Melbye. “It was a great idea, it would have been a great thing, but you just can’t do it that way.”
The final subject of the meeting was new City Council chamber furnishings. The new furnishings were a new boardroom table in the ballpark of $2,000 to $5,000 and a projector system. Councilman Jake Fee said he had a hard time stomaching $2,000 to $5,000 for a boardroom table but was in favor of a projector system. Most of the council seemed to agree with Fee and they decided to move forward on a new projector system for the council chambers, but they will not move forward on a new boardroom table. “That boardroom table is a lot of money for a table and we have one upstairs (in the conference room) if we need to hash things out,” said Mayor Melbye. “Downstairs it is hard to give a presentation. Funding for the project is available in the City Hall budget to complete the project.
At the end of the Ways and Means meeting, they moved to the City Hall conference room to start labor negotiations with the law enforcement union.
