The Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) board met on Thursday at Valley Technology Park.
The meeting began with the board discussing the purchasing process of Washington School. The city has recently addressed the purchase of the school to potentially develop a daycare center or a center that holds children’s activities. The school is still holding meetings to decide what shall remain on the property regarding kitchen or playground equipment.
The board was then notified about a Childcare Development Grant through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) that the EDA believes could be a significant financial help in this process. “Eligible uses for this money can be targeted toward current childcare,” said Project Coordinator Kayla Hanson, “Whether that’s a special family childcare or a center, it can be used for expansion training of staff, which is a big one we’re looking at, direct subsidies or incentives, and that’s a commonality we’re hearing from the providers.” The grant funding can also be used for retrofitting, facility modification, and licensing. The EDA proposed to the board that they apply for this grant in the amount of $600,000, which the board ultimately approved to submit the grant application.
Housing Director Theresa Tahran approached the board seeking approval to apply for a grant through the Publicly Owned Housing Program (POHP). This grant would help offset costs for improvements to the Oak Court units. “We’re working on this grant to help with our smoke detectors and roof project,” said Tahran, “So this would be the third (grant) we’re applying for. We would use this grant for replacement cabinets in some units because some cabinets are starting to pull away from the walls, and we also want to put indoor controllers for our outside handicap doors.” This grant can also be used for new air handlers because the current handlers have not been replaced since the units were built. The board approved to apply for the POHP grant in the amount of $567,000.
The board addressed the final item regarding applying to the Emergency Safety Grant program, in which CHEDA applied for funding last year and was rewarded with funds. “The emergency safety grant we did put in an application last year,” said Tahran, “We’re going to do that again, and this will be for the security system where we can add key fobs for entrance.” The grant amount to be applied for would be approximately $65,000, and the board ultimately approved submitting this application.
The consent agenda included the approval of minutes from the January 30 meeting and the special meeting held on February 15. It also included the approval of bills and disbursements in the amount of $307,511.37.
