The Crookston City Council and Ways & Means Committee met on Tuesday night. During the council meeting, Councilman Don Cavalier asked for a resolution to be added to the agenda that he had handed out to the council. Councilman Tom Vedbraaten commented that he thought there was an effort to not add things to the agenda and acting Mayor Dale Stainbrook asked for a motion to add the resolution. Hearing none the resolution was not included.
The resolution Cavalier introduced read –
“WHEREAS, Cindy Gjerswold, an elected member of the City Council representing Ward 6, has resigned her Council position, as she is no longer residing within the Crookston City Limits.
WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Crookston has declared a vacancy to exist effective on August 19, 2019.
NOW, THEREFORE IT BE RESOLVED, by the City Council of Crookston, Minnesota to confirm the appointment of Patty Dillabough to fill the unexpired term of Cindy Gjerswold. This term is scheduled to expire December 31, 2022.”
Asked why this resolution was brought forward after the council rejected the recommendation of the interview committee, which included council members, Cavalier stated, “No comment.” There were two votes held by the interview committee back in September, first choosing their top two votes with the voting being Klatt (8), Dillabough (6), Plante (6). And then just their top vote, which resulted in a tie with Dillabough (5), Plante (5), and Klatt (0).
The only business on the Council agenda was the consent agenda. The agenda passed unanimously and included approving minutes from the October 28 meeting and the November 4 special meeting. A resolution to approve the City of Crookston bills and disbursements, and a resolution to approve payment estimate no. 5 – final to O’Day Equipment for the Airport Fuel System.
Also included were eight resolutions for public hearings on ten special assessments, including seven street projects. The other three are assessments, which appear on one resolution under current services, for mowing, unpaid water bills, and administrative charges explains City of Crookston Finance Director Angel Weasner, “The current services for public hearings are for water and sewer charges that are overdue, mowing charges that occurred over the summer, and administrative citations that occurred over the summer that can be charged to parcels.”
Weasner clarified that administrative citations are often for property maintenance code violations. The public hearings notices including descriptions of the special assessments have been published on KROXAM.COM for street improvements and other proposed assessments.
WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE
The Ways & Means Committee held a closed session requested by City Administrator Shannon Stassen for a performance review. At the end of the closed session, Stainbrook said, that they had a good discussion and will reconvene for another closed session when Councilman Clayton Briggs returns to town. “I can’t give you any topics,” said Stainbrook. “We discussed a lot of topics. We, as a group, basically, decided to convene the meeting. Clayton is going to back on the 20th or something so, we’re going to have another meeting, closed session in a week or so and continue the process of the evaluation. There was a lot on the table, and it was productive. That is as far as I’m going with it.”
The committee voted for City Staff to finalize quotes for LED lighting projects at City Hall, the Police Department, Fire Department, Airport, Park Shop, Street Shop, and Water Plant, which were quoted between $1,000 to $7,400 per building. RBB Electric was the lowest bidder on four of the projects, and Valley Electric was the low bidder on three others Stassen told the committee.
They also directed staff to have further discussions with the low bidders at the Library and Crookston Sports Center as there were questions on each facility’s bid. The lowest bid at the Sports Center was $48,495. The staff is also recommending that the City of Crookston not complete the LED project for Highland Park. Councilman Jake Fee asked if the Highland Park project was just for Karn Field or included diamond one, and whether the Crookston Baseball Association had been contacted about chipping in. Parks and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle said it was for more than just Karn field, and that he had not had any contact recently with the baseball association regarding lighting.
There is a maximum payback of four years on each of the seven projects that will be brought to the City Council on November 25. Weasner said the projects there will be an additional conversation with the contractors with low bids on the other three projects. “We will award the seven projects that had the lowest bids and have the payback period that the city is looking for,” said Weasner. “There are three projects that need to be delayed a little bit so we can have some conversation with the contractor. And based on the Otter Tail rebate information that we were given, we’re a little unsure of a few things and need to have a discussion. So, at the next council meeting we will award the seven meetings, all the bids quotes will be listed there, and then the contractors can then move forward. And we’ll work with the other ones on the other three buildings.”
A timeline was also laid out to finalize the agreement with Bob Herkenhoff for the Nature View Estates Development was also shared with the committee. Additionally, Herkenhoff told the committee his one concern was that the County was considering lowering County Road 11/Fisher Ave and acknowledged that the final decision would be up to Polk County Engineer Rich Sanders. Public Works Director Pat Kelly also stated the final decision would be Sanders, but that he would discuss any concerns on behalf of the City of Crookston with Sanders.
TIMELINE FOR NATURE VIEW ESTATES AGREEMENT
December 16 – Park Board meeting
- Establishment of Park/Natural Area
December 17 – Planning Commission meeting
- Final Plat approval
- Street Vacation Recommendation
- Land Use Determination – New Natural Area/Park
December 23 – City Council meeting
- Call for Public Hearings
January 13 – City Council meeting
- Hold Public Hearings
- Approve Development Agreement
- Final Plat Approval
- Street Vacation Approval
