Crookston City Council met on Monday, June 16, at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. Two presentations were made Monday night.
Michael Mooney, HR Manager from ABDO, gave the Council some information on the work ABDO is performing for the City of Crookston in a Position Classification and Compensation Study. Mooney says that they are currently working through job descriptions for the city, and also briefly explained the Position Scoring Methodology used in figuring position compensation. The city will hear from ABDO again in a couple of months after review of comparable cities in the area, which will assist them in their study.
The Council heard from Matt Upgren and Jake Nordik from the Minnesota Department of Transportation with a project update on the Trunk Highways 2 Downtown Sidewalk Replacement project. We will have more on this story in the coming days.
Consent agenda
Approved within the Consent Agenda were the Special City Council meeting minutes from May 27 and June 2, and the regular City Council meeting minutes from June 2. Also approved were the City of Crookston Bills and Disbursements for $415,699.31, the approval of repairs at the Crookston Community Pool for $10,170.00 as discussed at the June 2 meeting, as well as the acceptance of a donation from Fin & Fit for the Crookston Community Pool of $10,500.00 to cover the repairs. Also in the consent agenda were the approval for sales of fireworks at Wal-Mart in the City Limits of Crookston for 2025 and the approval of the appointment Dale Stainbrook to the CHEDA board to fill the open spot left when Tim Menard resigned his position with CHEDA.
Regular Agenda
The City of Crookston entered into an agreement with Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services (AE2S) to perform engineering services on a proposed project that would develop a comprehensive city-wide stormwater model for the city. “The City of Crookston applied for the Small Communities Planning Grant and was awarded approximately $210,000 to prepare a stormwater master plan, which will help inform city decision making,” says Steven Slick of AE2S. “AE2S and the City of Crookston will be working to prepare that to help the city move forward.” The Council unanimously approved AE2S working with the City of Crookston to prepare the stormwater master plan.
The council also heard from AE2S regarding a contract with Spruce Valley Corporation for work to be done on Lift Station 5. Lift station 5 is located in the Memorial Drive/Locken Blvd area, where homeowners have had basement water issues in the past. “What Spruce Valley will be doing is upsizing the force main to accommodate larger flows coming out of the lift station to alleviate potential basement flooding and backups that they are seeing during high stormwater events,” says Slick. “That lift station will have more capacity to try to keep up, as one way to try to alleviate problems with the residents.” Spruce Valley will use a trenchless solution when they start their work in late summer or fall, which will help keep from having to close roads as they will bore under instead. Spruce Valley was one of two companies that bid on the project and was the lowest responsible bidder. The contract is for $145,295, and the project was budgeted as an item on the Wastewater Capital Improvement Plan. The council approved the lift station 5 project unanimously.
The council was also asked to approve a request from the Parks & Rec Department for a request for proposals (RFP) regarding a Pool Feasibility Study for the City of Crookston. During the recent Park Board meeting, it was discussed that this step is crucial in finding out more about the viability of the current pool facility. The council approved unanimously to go out for an RFP for a Pool Feasibility Study. Parks and Rec Director Jake Solberg was happy with the council’s approval. “It went well, council approved it,” says Solberg. “We are going to move forward with writing an RFP to get companies to do a feasibility study for the pool. That’s the next step for the pool.”
The council authorized the City of Crookston to retain an attorney to assist in evaluating an employment-related complaint. Attorney for the City of Crookston, Tanner Holten, explained to the council that there is an allegation of misconduct that needs to be addressed and that he has spoken to the League of MN Cities, which urges the City to hire an Independent Investigator regarding the matter. Holten recommended Tom Jacobson out of Alexandria, MN, and the council unanimously approved.
The final item for the meeting was a resolution to appoint a candidate to fill the vacant At-Large Council Member Seat. Dylane Klatt motioned to select from the top two remaining candidates, choosing Wendy Ault. Council member Cavalier seconded the motion. The council voted. The motion failed with a 4-3 vote. Those who voted for were Fischer, Cavalier, Klatt, and Hibma, with Jerde, Briggs, and Brekken voting against Ault.
Klatt then motioned to appoint the other top candidate from the original pool, Gina Corneillie, to which the vote also failed at 4-3, and council members voted the same as they did for Ault. Discussion turned to what options are available moving forward. City Attorney Tanner Holten addressed the council to let them know they did not have to do anything more during the meeting. What did Mayor Dale Stainbrook think of how things turned out? “Like I said tonight, I think it goes back to when we had the candidates eyeing for the position, we should have taken the top two because it takes five votes to put that person in the At-large Chair,” says Stainbrook. “I was nervous at the last council meeting, because I don’t think we would get to five. Sure enough, here we are.” Mayor Stainbrook says that Tanner will get some information together for the next meeting on the options. One option is a community committee that recommends a candidate for board approval. There are also the possibilities of leaving the chair vacant until the next election or holding a special election.
