The Crookston City Council held a special meeting on Monday night in the City Hall council chambers. It looked to approve several resolutions in regard to submitting a Letter of Intent with various entities to apply for grants.
“A letter of intent is a response to a solicitation,” said City Administrator Corky Reynolds, “Various granting entities from the federal government or the state of Minnesota send out a solicitation saying ‘if you’re interested in our program our grant, give us a letter that says you intend to imply’ and these are so they are aware that the City of Crookston is interested.”
LETTER OF INTENT APPROVAL
The council approved the resolution regarding the letter of intent for the Safe Routes to School Grant. This grant is estimated at $700,000 (no match required) and would entail a multi-use trail to be placed, beginning on Fisher Ave, following Eickhof Blvd, and ultimately leading up to Highland School.
The council approved a letter of intent regarding respect to MnDOT for the Active Transportation Program Grant. This grant would provide funding for Crookston to conduct studies and implement procedures, trails, and other items that would create safer opportunities for individuals who bike, walk, or rollerblade through the areas that are being examined.
The last Letter of Intent approved by the council was regarding the Greater Minnesota Transportation Alternative Program. This is a grant from the ADA that would be used to retrofit Broadway and Main Street in downtown Crookston. The retrofit project is not set to take place until 2025, with completion being scheduled for 2027. The project operations will include sidewalk renovations, converting street lighting to LED technology, and reducing three-lane territories into two. “We’re going to reduce the number of lanes to two lanes of travel on each of the one ways,” said Reynolds, “Sidewalks can be enhanced; there may be bike lanes or other pedestrian enhancements.”
Council members went into a discussion regarding the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Climate, and Pollution Reduction Grant in hopes of making Crookston a participant sponsor. “The federal government is going to have a huge amount of money available to help cities move into the latter part of this decade,” said Reynolds, “Hopefully for some clean climate things, some enhancement, or electric, maybe vehicles, and pollution reduction.”
The federal government is looking for states to submit grant requests. The state of Minnesota has asked cities of interest to partner with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and to make grant requests to the Federal Pollution Control Agency. The state will select one city to be the co-participant in this program and ultimately receive sums of money. The council approved the city to submit the request.
The final item the council approved was the resolution declaring the cost to be assessed and ordering the preparation of proposed assessments to improve Alexander Street and 4th Avenue. The total project cost is in the amount of $589,668.66.
The portion of the cost of the improvement to be paid by the city is in the amount of $509,417.52, which entails making the improvements. The expenses incurred in the making of the improvements, such as design and engineering, will be $80,251.14.
To watch the full meeting, click here.
