The Crookston Housing & Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) met on Tuesday at noon at the Valley Technology Park. After the Call to Order, the meeting began with the Board approving their meeting minutes from their last meeting on April 19.
CONSENT AGENDA
The Consent Agenda included approving the EDA Financials and the Crookston Jobs Loan Status and Financials. It also included the approval of the Community Investment Financials, B3 Grants and Financials, the Financials for Prairie Skyline, and the Financials for Epitome Energy. Next, they resolved the Crookston Jobs Revolving Loan Fund and the Revolving Loan Fund for Crookston Jobs and Loan Status and Financials. It then resolved Financials for Oak Court Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, Workforce Housing, and Rehab Housing. It then went into Payable Bills they would pay for a total of $173,380.61 ($164,939.66 for Checks and $8,449.95 for EFTs (Electronic Funds Transfer)). The final item on the Consent Agenda was to approve the Financials, Building Occupancy, and Expended Business Incubation of Valley Technology Park.
HOUSING REPORT: TAHRAN
The Board then heard from Administrative Assistant Theresa Tahran on a Housing Report. She reported that some members had yet to finish the “Lead the Way Training.” She then reported that Oak Court Apartments had three washers and dryers that needed to be replaced and chose to purchase washers from Speed Queen out of Minneapolis for $13,597 out of their Capital Funds. She reported that they will have them delivered up to the Apartments within the next three to four days and asked the Board to approve the payment, which it did unanimously. She then began a report of updates on the Publicly Opened Housing Program’s (POHP) Roofing and Plumbing. She reported that the plumbing project has been completed and were taking the next steps with the roofing. “The Plumbing Project is 100% complete now. As for the Roofing Project, we had the architects over, and they did some specs and measurements up on the roof, and they’ll start getting the bid process paperwork started. We’ll send that down to the architect at Minnesota Housing,” Administrative Assistant Theresa Tahran explained, “They’ll review all that information. Then hopefully, we can get that sent out for public notice/RFP looking for bids, and we can start going on that project,” she added. She then went into the Voucher Program Report, reporting that there was still room to help people with rental assistance and planned to make more selections and sign up more people for it. She finished her report with an update on the Workforce Housing at 1603 Hoven Lane, saying they will complete that sale during their special meeting on Tuesday, May 31.
OLD BUSINESS
The Board then heard from Attorney Charles “Corky” Reynolds, who reported on updates on Colborn Property Infrastructure. He reported that a road for the Colborn Property was being constructed for it and that they were approved for $895,000 by the Bonding Bill for the State of Minnesota to assist with its construction. They had attempted to amend the Bill to include design costs, but they were not approved for those coverages, so the Board will have to pay for those themselves. The Board will then reach out to AIG for their needs on when the construction needs to start, as they plan to start and do additional groundwork in the first week of June. The Board then heard from Epitome Energy president and CEO Dennis Egan, who reported that they were continuing to make progress working with the Minnesota Department of Economic Development (DEED) and MPCA on their water permits and to issue public comments on their EAW (Environmental Assessment Worksheet) at the beginning of June. “We hope that the MPCA will be issuing public comment on our EAW by the end of this month or the first part of June, which is a 30-day opportunity for the residents to review our project and weigh in on the impact that Epitome will have from an environmental standpoint,” Epitome CEO Dennis Egan explained. “I think that it will show that we have really done our due diligence, and this will be a good fit for the community, as we’ve always said,” he added. They then went into the Chickadee Coffee/Snow Loan Status. Corky reported that they had collected the money from the sold equipment they had inside the building but reported that they had not yet received any of the money they had loaned Chickadee Coffee, which they had granted them during the project. “What the Board decided with the Commissioners is that they want to go further with the process. The inventory and the equipment have been sold, but now they want to proceed further with any and all possible legal remedies,” CHEDA Attorney “Corky” Reynolds explained. “They directed me as their Attorney to consider those and proceed with further remediation of the problem for not paying the loans that CHEDA granted,” he added. They then heard a report from Reynolds after he met with APG representative Elliot Steinbrink on the apartment complex with APG. He reported that they needed to indicate what legal entity will be completing the development but has yet to receive any indication from APG on their current legal status for the project.
MAIN AGENDA
The Board then began discussions on B3 Grants of $3,000 for IC Muggs/Best Buy Liquor and Synergy. The Board then considered a call for a Public Hearing on 1603 Hoven Lane and Parcel 82.03750.00, a 35×500 ft. piece of property between B&E Meats and Total Lawn Care to sell both business entities around it, in their next meeting on Tuesday, May 31. The Board then motioned to pass a survey to send out to potential buyers for the Parcel property. The Board approved all motions unanimously.
OTHER BUSINESS
The Board then began a discussion on seeking a new Business Director to replace Robert Barnes. They discussed that while many of the Board members have helped to continue his work while searching for an official replacement, they decided not to search for an Interim position and go with the next full-time replacement.
The Board will meet again on Tuesday, May 31 at noon for a Special Meeting in Valley Technology Park.
