The Crookston City Council met on Monday night with all the items on the consent agenda. Among those were approving the City’s COVID-19 preparedness plan authorizing the reopening of city hall on Wednesday morning explains Interim City Administrator Angel. “We will be opening the doors to the public in the morning,” said Weasner. “We had everything in place that we needed prior to that and just needed the Council to finalize the preparedness plan.”
The Council accepted bids for the 2020 Street & Utility Improvements and awarded the projects after Councilman Bobby Baird pulled the item from the consent agenda. Baird asked Rich Clauson, city engineer from Widseth Engineering, if the roads had nine-ton limits and what the compaction was. Clauson said the streets had nine-ton limits and that compaction was made to 100 percent or as close as the contractor could get. Baird followed up asking why it wasn’t compacted to 110-120%, and Clauson explained that because of the wet ground over-compacting can bring up additional moisture causing more problems in the road’s foundation. The Council then awarded the project unanimously to the low bid from Sellin Brothers, Inc from Hawley, for $1,375,195.75. The other submissions were from Spruce Valley Corporation and R.J. Zavoral & Sons, Inc. Weasner said the substantial completion date for the projects will be in September. “We always have a substantial completion date which is somewhere in mid-September,” said Weasner. “We did the bid award last week with three bidders and Sellin Brothers was awarded that bid.”
Street Reconstruction will be completed on:
- Radisson Road- University Avenue frontage road to approximately 400ft east of Hoven lane
- 5th Avenue South- South Main street to Sunflower street
Bituminous Mill & Overlay will be completed on:
- Sahlstrom Drive- Fisher Avenue to North Acres Drive
The council awarded a nuisance mowing bid to the BCG Mowing for $90 an hour. Weasner said they only received one bid for the mowing. “That was the only bid that we received,” said Weasner. “We advertised in the newspaper in accordance with state law and received the one bid from BCG Mowing services.”
Two of the resolutions dealt with the Crookston Airport. One for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act grant, and the other was an amendment to the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT) airport maintenance grant. The CARES Act grant awards $30,000 to the Crookston Municipal Airport which is filtered through the state MNDOT grant bringing the total grant amount to $110,748 for 2020-2021 explains Weasner. “The FAA has supplied the City of Crookston’s airport with a $30,000 CARES grant,” said Weasner. “We had to have that approved and the money flows through MNDOT, so we had to amend our agreement for operational expenses to include that $30,000 we’ll be receiving from the FAA.”
The remaining items on the approved consent agenda were the minutes of the May 11 meeting, bills and disbursements totaling $287,875.18, extending the City’s Housing Incentive Program through 2021, and approving the lawful gambling premise permit for the Litchfield Eagles Club for the raffle that was to part of the Minnesota State Eagles Convention held in June.
During the public forum, Jess Bengston spoke on behalf of the Downtown Crookston Development Partnership requesting to use city property for food trucks weekly throughout the summer. Weasner said she is reviewing the past rentals to ensure the rates remain the same. Bengston, on behalf of the Crookston Rotary Club, also thanked Parks and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle for his help with the club’s grant for equipment at Carman Park, and Water Superintendent Brandon Carlson for his assistance with the Rotary’s work at the Mayor’s Courtyard.
Crookston Chamber Director Terri Heggie also spoke during the forum to remind the community that Crookston businesses have put safety plans in place and are excited to reopen beginning June 1. “I’ve spoken with some of the restaurants, the hair salons, and they’ve put safety plans in place,” said Heggie. “They’re excited about reopening and want to stay open, so please make sure when you go into a business that is reopening you see what their safety guidelines are and follow them. It’s our responsibility as much as it is our business owners to make sure that we stay safe. We want these businesses to stay open and get our community economic growth going again.”
