The Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) met Tuesday morning at Valley Technology Park in the new community workspace. During the public forum, Councilman Bobby Baird addressed the board regarding their working session last month.
Baird said what happened during that meeting was improper and emphasized the CHEDA board does a good job and shouldn’t have to put up with that. Baird said the comments made by City Administrator Shannon Stassen during the CHEDA working session on April 30 were out of line and he felt an apology was owed to the CHEDA Board and City Council. “I wanted to make a comment about who works for who here,” said Baird. “The City Council is the one that runs the city, makes the resolutions, and passes them. Then we have the Mayor and then the City Administrator. It’s no different than CHEDA, Craig Hoiseth has a board to answer to who makes a decision and has a discussion. When the Council passes something, like the $350,000 to CHEDA last fall to give them some backbone and not come asking for money all the time. If they don’t use it, we can ask for it back. When we voted last fall it was a done deal, 6 to 2 and the Mayor [supporting] funding CHEDA. For our City Administrator to bring up the vote last fall was done improperly that was enough. That was out of line, if it was done improperly I think the League [of Minnesota Cities] would’ve been up talking to us. I felt that he owed the people in that meeting, especially the CHEDA Board for all the work they do on a volunteer basis, an apology. And apologize to the Council members that were there also.”
Baird also said CHEDA is responsible for accounting for the money the City Council gives them through monthly reports and by answering questions from the council. “When we give money to CHEDA, they have to account for every penny of that $350,000,” said Baird. “We get monthly reports when we have the CHEDA meeting and see where a lot of that money goes. If we ever have a question on it, they have a report on where that money goes because that’s their job.”
There was no response to Baird’s statements from Stassen, who attended the meeting. Baird also explained Economic Development is required by State Law and responsible for making the city work, both presently and in the future. “Most people know that the State has a law that you have an Economic Development Authority,” said Baird. “Here we have CHEDA, and they have a lot of things to do. One of the big things is getting business into town, which creates jobs, housing, tax base, and we always hope for a good quality of life. The biggest thing is you get investors in many different areas and branches. They partner with individuals, business, and contractors to get a goal for today and the future many years down the road. That’s what really makes this work. You have many businesses in town that have seen the future of what they have to do. A good example is RiverView stepping up for a $50 million project, and hopefully, we’ll get Epitome Energy in town. That’s what we rely on, and that’s what we hope to leave for our kids or grandkids.”
Baird also added that there have been several issues that have cost the taxpayers a lot of money. “We’ve had a couple of issues with property transfers and sales,” said Baird. “It’s actually cost the taxpayer a lot of money. We’ll let those guys handle it, and we’re out of it. We’ll do the funding and let them do the rest.”
And he clarified those issues haven’t been at CHEDA, but at City Hall. “No, it’s been down at City Hall,” said Baird. “We had that flood property, and then we had the property between the Masonic Lodge and the Evers building. There was a lot of he said, who said, and we just don’t need to be in that.”
During the regular meeting, the CHEDA board considered two applications for the Building Better Business (B3) Grant program from Drafts Sports Bar & Grill and the Hair Connexion. Brent and Jasmine Melsa, who own Drafts, told the board they’d like to make upgrades to the food trailer they take to events. Hoiseth explains that they were able to request a $5,000 grant, rather than the base grant of $3,000, as graduates of both Crookston Central High School and the University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC). “They came in using the program as Crookston High School and UMC graduates,” said Hoiseth. “That allowed them to up their request up to $5,000 which the board approved for their food trailer. They came and were present this morning to discuss how they were going to go to venues like WeFest, Kickin Up Kountry and other places like that. We wish them really well that the food truck can be a good profit center through these normally slower summer months.”
With the grant request for the Hair Connexion, the board discussed whether grant money should be awarded for inventory considerations or more for capital improvements and vitality. The request had a bit of both, and the board decided to focus on capital improvement projects explained Hoiseth. “The other B3 grant was for the Hair Connexion, that’s Carrie Larson,” said Hoiseth. “What she wants to do is kind of expand her business and showcase it a little bit. She’s down on the south end of Broadway St. by the bridge. We appropriated some dollars there but didn’t give the full request as the board saw some things in there that were more retail-oriented and sold for inventory. But all the things asked for in terms of equipment and advertising were approved at a 50 percent match.”
The board also passed two resolutions for capital funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). One resolution was an amendment to the 2018 funds, which had an increase in funding of a couple of thousand dollars, and the second was to accept the 2019 funds for $80,952.00 to be used for capital improvements for Oak Court Facility. The board also formally approved the signing of the annual Civil Rights Certification to HUD.
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