The Crookston City Council held a closed session on Monday, March 7, to discuss the possible purchase of parcels 82.00162.02 and 82.00162.09, which total 62.33 acres east of the Nature View Estates on Eickhof Blvd. KROX spoke with City Administrator Amy Finch after receiving information that the City Council had decided during that session not to go forward with a purchase, in part due to wetlands on the property.
Finch said the City Council doesn’t vote or make decisions in closed meetings but wouldn’t comment further until a summary report is released with the City Council packet for the March 22 meeting at the end of the week. “The City Council does not take votes during a closed meeting, so (it’s) discussion and giving staff direction if further information is required for their consideration,” said Finch. “What I expect we will see with the next agenda packet is a summary of the closed meeting, which is required by state statute. And I expect we may see a report on the conclusion of the closed meeting, but at this time, I’m not able to provide comment on that.”
Also, responding to whether anyone associated with the City was attempting to dissuade the City Council from proceeding with the purchase, Finch said, “the job of staff as it relates to City Council decisions is not to talk out of or talk them into any decision. It is our job to provide all of the information that we believe is relevant and needed to help them make that decision or provide direction to the staff. There are some discussions about wetlands in that area. But again, once that summary report comes out, and what I expect to be the conclusion report, I expect those questions will be answered.”
In a follow, Finch was asked whether a possible issue with wetlands was present, was it not considered on recent development over the past few years in that area, or did it not impact those projects. Finch again said she’d wait for the report before commenting. “I’m not going to provide comment on that until we are certain we’ll have the report with the conclusion,” said Finch. “I do think the summary and report will help provide answers to some of those questions.”
