The new Crookston Housing & Economic Development Authority board held an emergency meeting Friday morning in the City Hall Council Chambers. The purpose of the meeting was to put CHEDA Executive Director Craig Hoiseth on Administrative leave and appoint an Interim Executive Director.
City Administrator Amy Finch was elected and will serve as the Interim Director until a full-time Community Development Director can be hired. The decision to move forward comes after City Council voted to Dissolute the CHEDA Board earlier this week at a City Council meeting.
Crookston Mayor Dale Stainbrook spoke on why he and others felt Finch would serve best in this role for the time being. “Amy has been in contact with the current CHEDA staff out there,” said Stainbrook. “There are other items I’m not up to speed on that she has been taking care of with them, and they are in communication, so this decision will help continue to make this transition go as smooth as possible.”
The board will decide on Monday if Hoiseth’s temporary leave of absence will become official. There will be two special meetings held by the City of Crookston Monday night, July 19, starting at 5:30 p.m.
Finch spoke a little bit on her initial goals while she is in the role of Executive Director. “In the immediate time, my focus is coordinating with the CHEDA staff members and how we are all moving forward and serving Crookston,” said Finch. “There is some coordination that needs to happen, and I don’t have a lot of answers for that right now, but in the immediate future, there just needs to be some cooperation between myself and the CHEDA staff.”
There is no timetable for a community Development Director to be hired, but the board and Finch are hopeful it will be sometime in the near future. “I think right now this is a practical solution to the problem,” said Finch. “The City Council in the near future will see a proposed job description for a Community Development Director, and so as all those things are happening, we need to continue with the work the city is doing and CHEDA is doing while we try and fill that role for the City of Crookston.
The end goal will be to continue developing the new Community Development Department and the hiring of the Director sometime soon.
