The Crookston Park Board met on Monday afternoon at 4:30 at the City Hall conference room. The meeting began with the approval of the minutes from the January 21st meeting before moving on to the regular agenda.
First on the regular agenda was a discussion about the Pickleball and Arena funds. Shirley Iverson came to the board to raise awareness of the Pickleball fund and its uses, including the potential for the board to raise money to resurface the outdoor pickleball courts throughout the Crookston area and repair a few of the courts that have been damaged by severe vandalism. Iverson explained that the outdoor pickleball courts in Crookston, as well as the surrounding area, need to be resurfaced every five years and that Crookston is behind on that timeline. Iverson also referenced that the Pickleball Club is looking to raise between $25,000-$32,000 for repairs and maintenance, but that number is currently unknown as Crookston Parks and Recreation does not have a number at this time of how much the repairs and resurfacing would cost. “They’re working hard to do it,” said Scott Butt from Crookston Parks and Recreation, “They’re looking at by this summer to have half of the money raised, to see when we could look to resurfacing the courts. It’s looking like resurfacing could cost anywhere from $25,000-$32,000 depending on what needs to be done, and so the group is working hard to get to that.”
Iverson then spoke about potential additions to the Crookston Sports Center, specifically to enhance the experience for children. Some of these ideas include wall murals on multiple spots throughout the arena, adding activities along the walls on the opposite side of the play area, and activity tables, which are tables with electronic games on the face that kids could enjoy. Iverson explained that though this initiative is intended for early childhood, the activity tables would be intended for kids up to 12 years of age. “Shirley also talked about the area fund, looking to bring some things into the Sports Center,” said Butt, “with some early childhood games and wall murals and those types of things.” Butt then also goes on to mention some larger projects that has been put on the board’s radar. ‘Eventually looking at some larger projects to bring more people into the arena for other activities.”
The final item on the agenda was brought up by Michelle Christopherson, who made a pitch to the board about adding items to the Sports Center during the offseason for extended usage and more potential revenue for the city. Christopherson, along with Iverson, explained that nearly $125,000 in the Crookston Area Community Fund is allocated for use in the Sports Center exclusively. Iverson then explained that the money is just sitting there, and since it’s in an investment account, it repeatedly gets management fees taken out of it, which she gathered was nearly $16,000 in fees alone over the last five years. Some of the ideas Christopherson brought to the board include adding recreational activities to the various spaces during the offseason, such as bungee fitness, indoor obstacle courses, roller skating, hot yoga and laser tag. Christopherson suggests that the best way to get funding for this is through an application for funding through the Crookston area Community Fund, requesting grant dollars to purchase this equipment. Butt then mentioned how that money could also be used for potential turf replacement. “It’s one of those deals where our turf is almost as old as the arena is, and it’s starting to fall apart, so that’s something that we definitely need to take a look at,” said Butt. Christopherson also brought attention to the lack of a master calendar, which could lead to community members potentially missing information on events. “I thought Michelle did a really good job of mentioning that we have all kinds of different calendars, but we really don’t have a master calendar where anybody could see what’s going on in the community,” said Butt.
The board voted unanimously to accept all of these points into consideration and plan to come up with a more structured approach to things at the next meeting. The next park board meeting is scheduled for March 10th, 2025.
