The Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) held its monthly meeting on Thursday at the Valley Technology Park. All board members were in attendance except for Morgan Hibma, who appeared virtually along with Crookston Finance Director Jon Roscoe.
2025 POHP QUALIFICATION REQUEST APPROVAL
The board’s only action item was to approve a request for qualifications (RFQ) for an architect to perform remodeling work at the Oak Court Apartments as part of the 2025 Publicly Owned Housing Program (POHP). Housing Director Theresa Tahran told the board that five different architects submitted RFQs, which is higher than in previous project years. The winning RFQ bid came in at around $24,000. “We’ll be in contact with that person today,” said Tahran. “We were awarded back in September of 2025 for the POHP funding. We’ll be doing 29 units, new cabinets, and about seven to nine ADA-compliant door closures for handicapped doors.”
Tahran told the board the next step is to go through Minnesota Housing to ensure their policies are met, and to work with the architect to develop a request for proposals (RFP) to obtain cost estimates from construction companies for the project.
Tahran told the board the 2024 POHP is still ongoing, with new key fobs installed, new cabinets for 33 units, new sidewalks, and an air handler to be installed over the summer and fall.
NEW SUMMER INTERN
CHEDA Director Taylor Wyum provided an economic development update to the board, including reports filed by their new summer intern, Paige Klipping from the University of Minnesota-Crookston. “She’s been working with us since about the beginning of June, and she’s been working on quite a few different projects for us, some press releases regarding some of the work happening in the industrial park area of Crookston, some work on researching some ordinances and things that might affect our downtown businesses and just some other work that she’s been able to do for us and kind of ideas that she’s brought to the table as well. So it was great to have her report included.”
Wyum also provided updates on economic development items approved by the city council, including the properties on Eickoff Boulevard and seeking civil engineering RFPs for the CHEDA-owned lot behind Casey’s on North Broadway.
ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION PLAN PROJECT FEEDBACK
Wyum provided an update on the first phase of the city’s Active Transportation Plan, which created a temporary bike path and extended crosswalk sections on Barrette Street between Central Avenue and Summit Avenue. The project, the first of its kind in Crookston, was installed on June 1, and residents have begun sharing their feedback with Wyum and her office. “I definitely would say it’s been largely positive,” said Wyum. “The only kind of negative feedback I would say is that it’s a loss of parking spaces, so people have to park a little bit farther away. But even if you’re parking farther away, you now have a safe, separated path to your destination. It’s definitely a change. Anytime a traffic pattern changes, it can be hard to adjust or hard to know exactly what the new rules are in that location.”
The project will remain in place through the summer and is expected to be removed before winter.
2024 AUDIT DISCUSSION
Board members spent about an hour discussing the 2024 Board of Commissioners audit, which put CHEDA at its lowest ranking ever. The lower ranking has been attributed to a lack of liquidity in cash as well as a lower management score. The discussion led to the decision to hold a special meeting on Friday, July 17, at 7:00 a.m. to discuss the audit after seeking more information and asking for a 30-day extension with the state to give the board more time to identify all options, including separating the chartes of the housing and economic development departments.
The next regular CHEDA meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 30, at 7:00 a.m. at the Valley Technology Park.
