The Crookston City Council met Monday night in the City Hall Council Chambers; the agenda included resolutions to approve the Wellhead Protection Plan for the City of Crookston and a resolution to approve the City of Crookston Water Restrictions. Project Manager Jim Lambert of Ag Innovation also provided a campus update to the City Council. Other resolutions included approving a consultant agreement with SEH Engineering & Planning Services for the Crookston Municipal Kirkwood Field Airport and approval of a Community Developmental Director Job description.
The consent agenda included the approval of the City Council meeting minutes from July 12 and a resolution to approve City of Crookston bills and disbursements in the amount of $315,739.18.
AG INNOVATION CAMPUS UPDATE
Jim Lambert updated the Ag Innovation Campus and spoke on what the board should be aware of. “Tonight, I gave City Council a quick update on our campus,” said Lambert. “The city has been great to work with, and what we discussed is the activity you’re going to start to see at our 10-acre site at the corner of Ingersoll Avenue and Highway 75. We will have equipment moving in, and we are planning on starting some earthwork either this week or next week.”
A Memorandum of Understanding between Ag Innovation and the City of Crookston was also passed during the Regular Agenda. Lambert spoke on what this will allow Ag Innovation to accomplish. “There is a USDA rise grant, and that’s open to entities doing industrial incubation, which fits us very well,” said Lambert. “We’ve asked the city to be a co-applicant in the grant, and this is a unique grant in that we will write the grant and do the work, and the city will receive the funds and distribute them.”
Lambert believes that Ag Innovation has a good chance at receiving the grant, and he is thrilled to be working closely with the city in the process. The application deadline is due by August 2nd of this year, so this now allows Ag Innovation enough time to submit their application for consideration.
WELLHEAD PROTECTION PLAN PUBLIC HEARING
A public hearing was held for the Wellhead Protection Plan where anyone could approach the Council with their thoughts and opinions. Crookston Public Works Director Brandon Carlson spoke before the council regarding the logistics behind the Wellhead Plan and addressed some DNR concerns. “This plan gives us a radius of our wells that we need to monitor,” said Carlson. “We need to make sure nothing contaminates our water source, and this gives us steps to prevent any ail situations and how to deal with them.”
REGULAR AGENDA
The regular agenda began where the public hearing ended, and a resolution was voted on to approve the Wellhead Protection Plan. The resolution was passed per the recommendation of Brandon Carlson.
Following that, a resolution to approve an Agreement with the University of Minnesota Crookston was passed to use the Crookston Community Pool. A Resolution to approve a Memorandum of Understanding for the City of Crookston and the Ag Innovation Campus was then passed.
One of the biggest issues discussed at the meeting was the City of Crookston Water Restrictions passed by the Council. It will be used as more of a precaution than an actual mandate, and residents of Crookston are encouraged to use water and preserve it in a responsible matter.
Residents and business owners will be asked to irrigate their water based on their address for as long as the drought continues. A notice will be sent out on the city’s website https://www.crookston.mn.us/ns/ with all the regulations and guidelines that will be effective starting tomorrow.
The Airport Commission brought forth a resolution to the City Council to approve SEH Engineering & Planning as the next Consultant for the Crookston Municipal Kirkwood Field Airport. City Administrator Amy Finch spoke more on this decision and the finalization of the contract. “We will notify the applicants of the decision we’ve reached and then will get contracts going,” said Finch. “Once they’re notified, and we can finalize the contract, they will start getting to work for us and helping us improve our Airport.”
The meeting ended with the approval of a Community Development Director Job description. The position is being created following the dissolution of CHEDA at the last City Council meeting. Finch put together the description and discussed what the city would be looking for in an ideal candidate. “We will get ready to post the job description, and then we will focus on our local job description tactics such as using Indeed.com, and then from there looking more regionally for an ideal candidate,” said Finch. “Hopefully, we get a unique set of applicants, then will carefully put together a hiring committee, and get to work on finding the right fit.”
There is no firm timeline on a hiring date, but Finch says the goal would be around six weeks. Timing with holidays and the number of applicants the city receives may throw that timeline off moving forward.
OTHER ITEMS
Crookston Police Department Chief Paul Biermaier updated the Council on a job search and how the hiring process is going. “We’ve had a couple of people resign, so we’ve been advertising and looking to find the right replacements,” said Biermaier. “As many people know, it’s hard to find good applicants right now, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to settle; we’re still going to get the very best that we can find.”
The next City Council Meeting will occur on August 9 at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers.
