news

CITY COUNCIL APPROVES UTILITY RATE INCREASE, AFSCME CONTRACT, AND GETS AN UPDATE ON SNOW REMOVAL

December 27, 2022

The Crookston City Council met on Tuesday night in the City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting was the last for City Councilmen Steve Erickson and Tom Vedbraaten as both decided to not run for reelection.

CONSENT AGENDA
The meeting started with the passage of the consent agenda, which included the meeting minutes from December 12, 2022, approval of bills and disbursements in the amount of $588.909.20, and the approval of the 2023 calendar for the regular City Council meetings. The meeting will be moved to 5:30 p.m. instead of 7:00 p.m. The full schedule of meetings is below in the picture gallery.

PUBLIC HEARING –
The council had the final public hearing on the increase of the City of Crookston Utility rates. Nobody spoke, and the hearing was closed.

REGULAR AGENDA
The first item on the regular agenda was the unanimous passage of the AFSCME contract for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025. There wasn’t an across-the-board increase in the contract. Instead, they tabulated the salaries from eight other similar-sized cities and proposed the average pay of the comparable cities. “We took a look at the overall wage structure for the entire staff throughout the city, and when it came to AFSCME, we made a comparison to eight evenly situated cities, and we tried to get to the average of those eight cities,” said Crookston City Administrator Corky Reynolds, who added. “There were two reasons, one, to attract workers and two, having those nine steps to retain our employees. To get a raise, you move year to year, but you also have to have a positive review to get the raise.”

The City of Crookston has the Firefighters and the volunteer Firefighters contracts left to negotiate. “We are in negotiations with the Crookston Firefighters,” said Reynolds. “They made an initial proposal, and we made a counter-proposal which they are now considering, and once they have a response, we will meet face to face.”

The council unanimously approved increasing the City of Crookston utility rates, which hadn’t changed since at least 2011. There will be an increase in most services, from sewage, garbage, city lighting, connection fees, and more. “Some of the main rate increases are the wastewater rates were $1.75 per 1,000 gallons, and now it will be $3.50, and that is to support the infrastructure needs for that department,” said Crookston Public Works Director Brandon Carlson. “Street lights went up about 20%, and that is to cover the increase in materials and utility rates going up over the years. The garbage went up a buck from $5 to $6 per month.”

The main reason for the increase is to cover the costs for the City. “It is to cover the costs of the departments,” said Carlson. “I am trying to move forward to make sure we aren’t putting new streets on bad infrastructure and move forward from here.”

Carlson said he will start looking at the rates annually so the residents don’t have to deal with big increases as they will have in 2023. You can see a current water bill compared to a new water bill in 2023 below in the picture gallery.

SNOW REMOVAL –
Carlson told the council that they are working as hard as they can with the staff they have to clear snow, but with the amount of snow we have received in a short period of time has slowed down the process. “When you get big shots like that and then winds here and there where you don’t stop pushing snow, and there are certain areas where you can’t push snow anymore,” said Carlson. “I know some roads are narrow, and residents are getting their mail because of it. So, we will try to target those areas and try to get them widened out as soon as we can, but it might take a week or two. We tried clearing out cul-de-sacs and only cleared four out all day because there is so much snow.”

The council and Mayor Dale Stainbrook honored Steve Erickson for his eight years of service on the City Council. Tom Vedbraaten wasn’t at the meeting, but he will get a plaque at a later date.

The next meeting will be Monday, January 9, at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

1 of 4