The Crookston City Council and Ways and Means Committee met Monday evening in the City Hall Council Chambers.
The meeting started with two Mayoral Proclamations for Mental Health Awareness Month and Community Action Month, honoring Tri-Valley Opportunity Council for serving over 2,000 families and over 4,500 individuals annually. The mental health proclamation was presented to Cindy Strom of RiverView Health, and the Community Action Month proclamation was presented to Melody Heddon of Tri-Valley.
CONSENT AGENDA
The consent agenda includes the approval of the meeting minutes from April 6, bills and disbursements for $492,441.74, a conditional use permit, a variance request, and preliminary and final replat drawing for the Nature View twin homes.
2026 cement mason license renewals were approved for JD Concrete and Geatz Concrete.
POOL ENGINEERING STUDY
The council approved an engineering study for the Crookston Community Pool to be conducted by AE2S, the City of Crookston’s Engineer, who has also done several other pool studies recently in the region. The main purpose of the study is to develop capital and operating cost estimates to assess options for repairing the existing pool or building a new one. The study will cost an estimated $30,000, with $15,000 paid/donated by Fin and Fit Crookston.
AE2S Engineer will document the existing facility conditions, summarize past repairs and maintenance efforts, and outline key drivers for this study. AE2S will evaluate the cause and repairs to the exterior envelope concerns, and identify structural capital repairs needed throughout the existing facility. AE2S will also review previous mechanical commissioning reports and use this data to develop costs.
AE2S will also assess costs to continue operating the existing pool with proposed fixes and maintenance recommendations, and to construct a new pool at the same site with a similar footprint.
“It’s been a long-lasting discussion about the pool for, I’d say, it lasts a few years anyway. Do we close it? Do we repair, replace what we have in the same location? We’ve had other studies, but they didn’t really address the pool’s structural integrity. So this study would really take a deep dive into the structural integrity and really narrow down what it would take to either repair the current pool or replace that,” said City Administrator Darin Selzler. “The study is expensive. Without the generous donation that the Fit and Fin are willing to provide to the city of Crookston, honestly, I don’t know if we’d be able to do that. So we’re super appreciative of that. We’re excited about what the findings will reveal.”
CITY HALL OFFICE HOURS
The council also approved closing City Hall on Fridays at 11:00 a.m. from Memorial Day to Labor Day. City Hall hours will be 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday during that time. On Friday, City Hall will be open 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The employees will still get their 40 hours per week, and Mayor Dale Stainbrook said it seemed to work pretty well last year, since Fridays in the summer are usually pretty quiet in Crookston.
One item from the consent agenda was pulled by councilman Derek Brekken and moved to the regular agenda. Brekken pulled the Crookston Firefighters Association contract because he is a volunteer firefighter, and it would be a conflict of interest for him to vote on the contract in the consent agenda.
The council voted unanimously to approve the contract, with Brekken abstaining from the vote. The contract for 2027 will be $67,840, increasing to $71,910 in 2028 and $76,225 in 2029. “We had some negotiations with the Firefighters Association over the past couple of months. We appreciated them coming to the table early so that we could have those numbers for the upcoming budget season,” said Selzler. “It was agreed upon a 6% increase to the annual stipend that the City of Crookston pays the Firefighters Association for use of their trucks to help them with any fire or any issues in the City of Crookston.“
FINANCIAL UPDATE
During the staff report portion of the meeting, City of Crookston Finance Director Jon Roscoe gave the council a Financial update (see the numbers at the end of the story) on the numbers as of December 31, 2025. The good news was the City’s finances seem to be a little better than expected. “The council members were kind of wondering what the total city funds are in the bank, essentially what they can utilize in each fund, the reserves, where they’re at,” said Roscoe. “Are the reserves finally going back up? So that was a big thing. To put a little bit back away in 2025 after the reserves have decreased for the previous couple of years.”
The council seemed to be pleasantly surprised by the financial report. “We’re not in dire straits, but obviously a lot of big projects are coming up, and the reserves aren’t where they need to be, as far as the goal of the city, as far as their minimum fund balance, they’re not quite at their goal yet,” said Roscoe. “So we still want the reserves to increase over the next few years to make sure they’re in a good, stable position going forward.”
WAYS AND MEANS
The Ways and Means Committee discussed the Mayor’s recommendation to appoint John Thorp to the CHEDA Board. Thorp is a resident of Oak Court, and there is a Federal Government requirement that if a resident of Public Housing wants to serve on a housing board, they should be put on the board.
The meeting was closed for a City Administrator performance review. A recap of the meeting will be given at the next City Council meeting.
