The Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) Board met on Friday for a special meeting to address a response letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of the 2024 audit, and a temporary easement on a CHEDA-owned property for the upcoming Highway 2 redevelopment project.
HUD RESPONSE LETTER
The first topic of discussion was a review of a letter written by Interim City Administrator Darin Selzler, with assistance from Crookston Housing Director Theresa Tahran and Crookston Finance Director Jon Roscoe, for HUD in response to the scores received during their 2024 audit. The letter addresses their concerns regarding the 2024 audit, in which Crookston received below-average scores in the financial and management categories. Selzler made sure the concerns were addressed with achievable steps that the city is taking to rectify those problem areas. “This deals more with tenant occupancy and some management practices at the public housing or Oak Court.”
Selzler appreciated the feedback he received from the board, including recommendations to increase the tenant lease termination period from 30 to 60 days, raise minimum rent levels, and consider implementing an HRA levy, which has been discussed at previous board meetings. “It’s always good to get the comments from the board,” said Selzler. “Definitely, any perspectives you get from multiple parties are good. I think we’re comfortable with the letter that we have, that we’ll be using going forward. I think we’re on the right track, I think the letter addresses that, and we’re just eager and excited to work with HUD to correct these problems or some of the deficiencies that they defined for us.”
Selzler will make some revisions based on the feedback he received, but will send the letter to HUD next week, ahead of their deadline. Representatives from HUD will be in Crookston to meet with CHEDA and city officials in late August.
TEMPORARY EASEMENT
The next topic of discussion was the execution of a temporary easement to the State of Minnesota for highway improvements associated with the state’s Highway 2 redevelopment project. Selzler explained to the board that this easement was originally one of 13 easements approved at the June meeting, but it was discovered that it was for a property that CHEDA has owned since at least the 1970s. The easement would include a $500 minimum damage responsibility and would last through the completion of the project or until late 2028. “We had run through, I think, a dozen or so properties owned by the city of Crookston. This one was part of that, but actually, as we did a little closer research on the title pin, it turns out that there’s just a very small strip of green space in downtown Crookston that’s from, I think, back in the 1970s that CHEDA owns that property. So yeah, this is just a formality running through the board approving that easement, and just like all of them, that’s just one piece to move forward and get that Highway 2 reconstruction project underway.”
The board did find an error on the paperwork, which listed an inspection date of November 25, 2026. Selzler noted that it was most likely a typo, and he would confirm when the inspection took place to ensure the correct date is listed before the paperwork is sent back to MnDOT.
The next CHEDA board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 30, at 7:00 a.m. at Valley Technology Park, 510 County Road 71, in Crookston.
