The Crookston City Council met on Monday night in the council chambers at City Hall. The only item on the regular agenda was approving the recommended small business grant recipients from the City of Crookston’s CARES Act funding.
City Councilman Jake Fee said the committee and city staff put a lot of time and effort into the process. And noted that there is $173,343.98 remaining for the second wave of grants. Councilman Tom Vedbraaten said it was good to see business apply and he hopes the funds help them. The council passed the resolution approving $547,356.02 in grants with another $29,300 still pending some extra documentation by a vote of 6-0. Fee abstained as the Crookston Eagles, which he manages was a recipient of one of the grants. Councilman Steve Erickson also abstained from the vote as his business, Erickson Embroidery/2nd Street Boutique, was also receiving a grant.
The grants were approved for the following businesses and organizations.
| Crookston Sports Fitness LLC | $25,891.90 |
| Service Pro Parts Inc. | $10,000 |
| Healing Hands Therapeutic | $3,500 |
| United Way of Crookston Inc | $10,610 |
| L & C Stahlecker & Sons | $41,000 |
| Joyful Heart Photography | $3,000 |
| Real Good Bath & Body | $19,700 |
| Thrivent Financial | $18,000 |
| Irishman’s Shanty | $11,200 |
| El Gordito Market | $15,000 |
| Advanced Tire & Auto Service | $15,000 |
| Sweetlight Gallery | $16,000 |
| RBJ’s Restaurant | $40,000 |
| Red River Valley Shows, Inc. | $10,000 |
| Erickson Embroidery/2nd St. Boutique | $25,000 |
| Crookston Hotel Group Cobblestone | $5,000 |
| Drafts Sports Bar & Grill | $41,000 |
| NA Ultrahigh LLC | $4,728.62 |
| Crookston Hospitality Group AmericInn | $27,935 |
| Crookston Youth Foundation | $10,000 |
| Moon Child Massage | $5,000 |
| The Dude’s Custom Seat Cover | $5,000 |
| Minakwa Golf Course | $41,675 |
| American Family Insurance | $1,491.32 |
| Willow & Ivy | $4,542 |
| M.P.T Partnership (Mugoo’s Pizza) | $17,000 |
| Golden Link Seniors Association | $3,000 |
| Fraternal Order of the Eagle’s 873 | $35,653.15 |
| Crookston Area Chamber | $10,000 |
| NAPA Crookston Welding | $41,429.03 |
| Moore Family Theater | $30,000 |
Mayor Dale Stainbrook said he was pleased to see Crookston’s businesses getting needed assistance. “A lot of dollars went out and I think it’s going to help the community a lot,” said Stainbrook. “I know there is a few more business coming to the plate now that haven’t applied. But I think the IRP (Development, Policy & Review) Committee are doing a fantastic job of going through the applications and getting this money out to the businesses that need it.”
The second round of small business grant applications is due October 6 and will be reviewed by the Development, Policy & Review Committee on October 7-9.
On the consent agenda, the approval of election judges was pulled from the consent agenda by Vedbraaten who questioned whether Paulette Melbye could serve as an election judge with her husband Wayne running for the City Council. City of Crookston Finance Director/Interim City Administrator Angel Weasner said that the main list had been an extension from the primaries in August, with four names added and that Melbye had already been informed she couldn’t be called for the general election. “Back in July we had approved our election judge list and this spouse of the person that is on the ballot this fall was an election judge,” said Weasner. “We added four election judge names to our list and just copied and pasted. The person that is in question will not be called to be an election judge in November. They were informed immediately that they would not be eligible to be an election judge in November.”
The City Council then voted unanimously to approve the election judges. They also passed the remaining items on the consent agenda unanimously. The City Council had one person speak during the Crookston Forum. James Leiman introduced himself as the Director for the Veden Center for Rural Economic Development and thanked the City Council for its support of the Small Business Development Center, which falls under his umbrella.
