The Crookston City Council met on Monday night and filled the vacant Ward 6 council seat. The council voted 4-3 to table a resolution appointing Chris Plante to the Crookston City Council as the Ward 6 representative until their October 28 meeting. The motion was made by Briggs, who said he had some questions he wanted to get answered before voting. Councilman Tom Vedbraaten seconded and voted to table along with Councilman Don Cavalier. Councilmen Bobby Baird, Steve Erickson, and Jake Fee voted against tabling the vote. Acting Mayor Dale Stainbrook was the tiebreaking vote to table the appointment.
Briggs said he’d been asked a couple of questions by community members recently and wanted to get the answers before proceeding. The City Charter states that two appoint someone to the council, there need to be five votes in favor. With the council currently down two members (Stainbrook only votes on ties as acting mayor), a vote on an appointment could have no more than one no vote. Stainbrook said it’s better if there are questions to table a vote until those questions are answered, rather than to turn the appointment down. “I’d rather have it be tabled because I think the way it was right now, there would’ve been two no votes,” said Stainbrook. “You need five to put someone in that seat, so if you have two no votes, the seat sits vacant. So, I think we have a better shot if we table it for a couple of weeks. Let’s have a couple of council members and myself [get together] to see what questions they are asking and go from there. Hopefully, we have Mr. Plante in that seat by the first meeting in November.”
The Council also declared a vacancy for the Mayor’s position but didn’t set a firm timetable on appointing a new Mayor. Fee said he didn’t want to rush into filling the Mayor’s seat before they completed filling the Ward 6 position. The council agreed not to rush into appointing a mayor, which Stainbrook thought was a wise move for the city. “I think that’s a good move,” Stainbrook. “Let’s take out time. The big concern is we need someone in Ward 6. Of course, I get concerns too from a couple of people in Ward 5 that they aren’t being represented without anyone in that chair. But I do explain to them that a lot of our stuff gets done at Ways & Means and I do have a vote there as mayor. As far as the mayor, it’s big shoes to fill. Let’s take our time and see what process the council wants to use to get someone in that seat.”
Erickson said that he’d like to see a more refined process with better questions pertaining to the City of Crookston than they had for the Ward 6 interviews. Even Stainbrook, who led the interviews, said he didn’t like some of the questions. “I looked at the rough draft before this and just went – whoa, I couldn’t answer these questions,” said Stainbrook. “A lot of them I think are way out in left field. I think you have to have questions that pertain to a vision of the city, a vision of the ward you’re representing, and which way do you want the city to move. There are a lot of different ways we can answer these questions. A few of them are about city government, and they have no clue because they’ve never been involved in city government. One of the questions I didn’t like was the biggest budget you’ve ever worked with. The average person it’s probably their regular household budget. When I first got on the council, I didn’t know anything about the city budget. But I was talking to the city administrator, and finance director many times if I didn’t understand it, and it takes a while.”
Polk County Commissioner Gary Willhite told the board during the Crookston Forum that the commissioners had agreed to waive the tip fees for the demolition of the property at 110 Lincoln and that he’d be excited to see an affordable property built there. The Council also passed its consent agenda, which included approving the September 23 minutes, approving bills and disbursements, and accepting a $150 donation from Husky Group of Companies. Also included is an addendum to update the law enforcement Special Operations Group Joint Powers Agreement, the acceptance and awarding of a bid for Radio Read Water Meters to Core & Main in Fargo for $186,405.74, and a resolution authorizing the abidance of the Respect Minnesota Pledge.
WAYS & MEANS COMMITTEE
There was no action taken during the Ways & Means Committee meeting. The committee reviewed the progress on a developer’s agreement with Bob Herkenhoff for Nature View Estates Plat 5, which would include the completion of Eickhof Boulevard out to Fisher Ave. Vedbraaten asked about one section that states that Herkenhoff would donate the south half of his 28-acre natural park to the City of Crookston either 20 years after the agreement is signed or upon his death. Vedbraaten asked what would happen if Herkenhoff went into a nursing home, and Herkenhoff told him he’d have to discuss that with City Attorney Corky Reynolds because he hadn’t thought of that prior.
The committee also received an update on a tobacco cessation program offered through a partnership with RiverView Health as part of implementing the new Tobacco-Free Policy. Four staff members entered the six-week program, and three were able to complete it. And the staff are still working on ways to help staff who want it.
There was a discussion on creating infill housing on residential lots the city acquires. City Administrator Shannon Stassen said that one avenue for creating infill housing could be the Construction Trades program at Crookston High School, which was initially mentioned at the September Planning Commission by Travis Oliver.
Vedbraaten also asked about putting lots up for free or for a small amount with an agreement that a property had to be built on the lot within two years. “I appreciated everybody’s comments,” said Stassen. “It’s not like infill hasn’t been talked about before, but it’s worth bringing up again. We have one opportunity for sure, but we may have some more to bring forward. It doesn’t mean they have to happen in 2020, but what we know about infill is that when we build on existing infrastructure, it’s the best deal. Street, sewer, everything is in place, and we grow the tax base without adding new infrastructure. If that’s the way the council wants to go to find those lots, put some stipulations on them and give them away or at a reduced rate, I’d be good with that too.”
The committee also discussed the continued drainage issues around Pirate Drive. Public Works Director Pat Kelly said he discovered a problem while recently checking out the drainage and is in contact with Polk County, who is responsible for the drainage, about getting a resolution. Erickson suggested that at least until the issue is resolved, the city should look at maintaining the temporary road put in by the Meadows apartments when the flooding first occurred this spring. Kelly said they could have that conversation with the owners of The Meadows Apartments as the temporary road is on their property.
Baird also brought up the Small Cities Development Grant the Council had approved be awarded for a project for the True Value building and why they hadn’t gotten any of the awarded dollars yet. Stassen explained that the program requires certain procedures and approvals to happen prior to the project and that the work already in progress was ineligible until the documentation was complete and that with it signed, the continuing renovations will have those funds applied to them. “This is the second time we’ve added money to the budget for the commercial part,” said Stassen. “What we said for the beginning is that whoever is getting this additional money that has been put in should have to follow the same rules and stipulations the people on the front end did. A chunk of the money is deferred after five years, they have to go through the proper inspections, and their contracts have to be approved in advance. It was just important that it was consistent with the people that came before, or it wouldn’t be very equitable. Multi-County [HRA] handles that for us. Ken Buchanan has done a nice job, and I know he has spoken with the owner of that building, and I think they can work that out. If there was confusion, I certainly know that if things were explained differently, it didn’t come from Ken. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a conversation with them about it. Hopefully, we can get it squared away and explained how the program works.”
Stassen also told the committee True Value should be getting the details worked out with Multi-County HRA, but if they had any questions, he’d be glad to sit down with them as well. The committee was also given the details of the upcoming Park Board facilities brainstorming session. The session will be held Wednesday, October 23, at 7:00 p.m. in UMC’s Bede Ballroom.
