CROOKSTON CITY COUNCIL SWEARS IN NEW COUNCIL MEMBERS AND FIRE CHIEF SHANE HELDSTAB

The Crookston City Council met for a regular meeting on Monday night inside the City Hall Council Chambers in the lower level of City Hall.

OATH OF OFFICE

After the Call to Order, the council held a Swear-In Ceremony for newly elected City Council Members Henry Fischer and Tim Menard, as well as reelected Councilmembers Dylane Klatt and Don Cavalier and Mayor Dale Stainbrook. It then held a swear-in ceremony for new Crookston Fire Chief Shane Heldstab. Heldstab told us that he was beginning to feel the weight of the position but still looking forward to leading the department. “The first week was definitely eye-opening and entertaining. It was definitely a learning experience and a challenge that I’m looking forward to and starting to enjoy,” said Fire Chief Shane Heldstab. “But the weight of it is starting to come down and becoming a reality, so I’m going to step up to the challenges that I’m going to face. I know there’s a community that rides and depends on me, and I want to be there for them.” Pictures of the ceremonies can be seen below-

CONSENT AGENDA

The council’s Consent Agenda consisted of approving the City Council Minutes from their meeting on December 27. However, they removed the resolution approving the City of Crookston Bills and Disbursements to be discussed in the Regular Agenda. It also included approving the Council Committee Composition and designating Depositories for Public Funds for 2023. It also included appointing Tanner Holten as the City Attorney, Miller McDonald, Inc as the City’s Auditing Firm, and Richard Clauson as the City Engineer. It also included approving the Gas Fitting and Cement Licenses for the year and other License Renewals for 2023. The final item was for them to approve the Crookston Housing & Economic Development Authority’s (CHEDA) Agenda for their Regular Meeting on Tuesday, January 17, at 7:00 a.m. The board approved the agenda unanimously.

REGULAR AGENDA

The Regular Agenda included a resolution to approve the City of Crookston as a sponsoring agency for the Crookston Connectivity Plus project. City Administrator Charles “Corky” Reynolds explained that the Parks and Rec Department and CHEDA Director Kari Kirschbaum had been preparing a new program known as the Crookston Connectivity Plus. They had asked for a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant of $1.2 million from the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). “We have named it, Connectivity. It has nothing to use with technology. It has to do with multiuse pathways, some sidewalks, some others, that connect various aspects of our city. Let’s say the Ray Ecklund Complex where the baseball field is, Karn Field, connects with the new nature ponds, 1 and 2 parks that we have, which connects with Highland School, and the High School,” Administrator Reynolds explained. “We have asked for the permission of the council to make that application to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, who is receiving funds from the federal government, to allow these multiuse pathways to be constructed in cities to bring together various portions of the city so people can bike, walk, and use other modes of transportation to bring us together in various aspects in our community.” Reynolds explained the grant would use Federal Grant Funds to cover 80% of the project, with the city paying the other 20%. The council approved the motion unanimously.

Responsibility of Crookston Connectivity Plus project

The council then passed a resolution to agree to assume responsibility for the Operation and Maintenance related to the Crookston Connectivity Plus Project. Reynolds explained that if they were awarded the grant, the city would be awarded the responsibility of operating and maintaining the walkways. Reynolds reported that it currently had a construction date of 2027, and they would address the construction with CIPs. The council approved the motion unanimously.

Crookston Sports Center compressor replacement

The council heard a resolution to approve funding to replace the Crookston Sports Center compressor. Reynolds explained that one of the compressors failed last week, and a new technician they hired from SCR Northern Division found that many parts had broken to the point it is unrepairable. Without it, temperatures within the ice are rising and having trouble making more. He explained that due to it being a sudden break, the funds to cover the replacement cost of $19,257.05 would have to come from the city’s undesignated reserve funds as it was not a budgeted item. The council approved the motion unanimously.

City of Crookston Bills and Disbursements

The council then created a resolution to approve the City of Crookston Bills and Disbursements, which was an amount of $614,921.09. At-Large member Wayne Melbye had requested the item be taken off the Consent Agenda as he did not remember the bill’s price being so high, and more specifically, of the League of Minnesota’s Insurance premium at $226,000. Reynolds explained that the League’s premium last year was at $204,000 and had increased by 10% after their assessment of the city. The council approved the disbursement unanimously.

Preparation of Preliminary Engineers Report

The final resolution the council created was to approve a resolution ordering the preparation of the Preliminary Engineers Report for the 2023 Street Improvements at,

• Houston Avenue from Hunter Street to South Ash Street
• Alexander Street from 4th Avenue to 1200 Alexander Street
• Euclid Avenue from Guthrie Street to the County Ditch
• Guthrie Street from Euclid Avenue to 5th Avenue South
• The Blacktop Downhill Portion of the Alley off Elm Street between Central Avenue and Summit Avenue.

Reynolds explained that Public Works Director Brandon Carlson had made estimates of the costs of the six road improvement projects and asked the council to review the report of the prices and see if they could complete the projects. Councilmember Melbye and Clayton Briggs reported receiving calls about road construction within several wards, mainly in Ward 4. They wanted to discuss further ways for street projects to be selected and assessed to see how they would affect the abutting landowners. Public Works Director Brandon Carlson agreed with the councilmembers’ claim and explained that they were only looking at a small percent of the overall cost of street improvement and they needed to figure out a way to decide on road projects as they spent about $1 million in city reserves in street improvements last year. The council agreed to make this an item for discussion at a future Ways & Means meeting and approved the report unanimously.

REPORTS AND STAFF RECOMMENDATION

Community Director Kari Kirschbaum welcomed the new council members and reported that they would be looking at new housing projects to keep them and the housing volume intact. She reported that they had been speaking with business owners in Downtown Crookston to see if there were ways they could use their allocated funds to improve the area.

Parks and Recs Director Jake Solberg reported that the staff on the Parks side had been working to remove snow and working on the skating trail and rinks around Castle Park. He reported that he would make a public announcement when they were ready and was preparing for their summer programs.

Building Inspector Greg Hefta reported that they had a motion of Conditional Use Permit motion for the Planning Commission on Tuesday, January 17, at 7:00 p.m.

Public Works Department Director Brandon Carlson reported that they were catching up on the point of widening streets with the snow and cleaning up piles in the downtown parking lots. He also revealed they were going to do another pass with the snowplows on Thursday night to hopefully clear all the snow off the roads. They still had a few positions open and were using everyone they could to keep the streets clear.

Crookston Fire Chief Shane Helstab reported that their newest Firefighter would begin tomorrow and had completed the training with him. He thanked everyone who had helped him adjust to the new job and was excited about starting the new position.

New Ward 2 Councilmember Henry Fischer thanked everyone for welcoming him to the council and shared his enthusiasm for working to help his and other wards in the city. “It’s great hearing from everybody and Wayne Melbye being At-Large and bringing up other things for everybody and having to look into all of this other stuff,” Henry Fischer explained. “I’m not getting a lot of complaints from the people in our area, but I want to help the community as a whole, so I am happy to hear about everything that’s going on throughout the city and focusing on what I can do to make the fixes that need to happen.”

New City Council At-Large member Tim Menard also thanked the council and community for welcoming him and voiced his excitement to help give back to the city. “I have to say that I’m very excited about this opportunity,” said Tim Menard. “I’m thrilled that I was given the support the community gave me, and I look forward to bringing the forces of my talents to help solve some of the issues that are rising in the community and help this vibrant community continue to push forward into an exciting and prosperous future.”

The next City Council meeting will take place on Monday, January 23, at 7:00 p.m. inside the City Hall Council Chambers.