The Ways & Means Committee reviewed and approved application for the revolving loan grant from the Crookston Eagles for continuing upgrades of the Eagles Club at 105 South Broadway. The additional improvements will include new exterior windows along Broadway and some siding. The request was part of extensive renovations going on at the Eagles, which include a new stage and stage lighting. The Eagles also plan to replace the hardwood floor and subfloor, replace walls, and other aesthetic elements in the banquet hall.
The loan repayment will be 50 percent deferred with the total loan amount for $22,850. For the payable half of the loan, Interim City Administrator Angel Weasner anticipates a repayment agreement between five and seven years. “We will have a mortgage against the building,” said Weasner. “They will not be required to pay back half of that loan as they maintain the use of the building during that timeframe. The other half will be payable back to the city. We pay some of the dollars, get some back, and are approving the town at the same time.”
The committee reviewed quotes for three types of showers at the Crookston Community Pool, approving the lowest cost option for 10 total showers, including one handicap unit in both the men’s and women’s locker rooms. The passed option has a cost of $37,798.
The Park Board approved option three via email last week, and Weasner said the new lockers would be along the walls and not in the middle of the room like the current showers. “We talked about replacing them when we took over the pool last year,” said Weasner. “We did not have an opportunity to finalize that, so we have done that this year. We had some money budgeted in 2019 and some additional funding in 2020. We’ll combine both of those to have 10 shower stalls in both the men’s and women’s locker rooms. They will now be up against the wall and not in the middle of the room.”
For the second time, the committee reviewed the proposed amended agreement with the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) between the City of Crookston, Crookston Chamber, and CVB, this time with the budget included. Among the proposed changes were the reduction of City Council members on the CVB Board from two to one and a change in language from a 15 percent administrative fee to an administrative fee of up to 25 percent.
Both Councilmen Bobby Baird and Jake Fee said because lodging taxes are collected to the city and passed to the CVB, the council should have two representatives. Fee and Councilman Tom Vedbraaten also spoke against expanding the possible administrative fee to 25 percent with Vedbraaten saying he wanted the language changed from 15 percent to up to 15 percent. Fee also said he spoke with a few members of the CVB Board who didn’t support the changes, adding the CVB Board hadn’t voted on any changes to the agreement.
The committee voted to table the discussion until after the next CVB meeting in April. Fee discussed his reasons for wanting to table the discussion. “The main one is to make sure this goes before the CVB Board,” said Fee. “I think they should have time to weigh in and maybe have an official vote on whether they want to see the administration costs go up by another 10 percent. I thought they should weigh in on that, and then we’ll have to continue to evaluate as a council whether we feel adding to the administration cost is worth it. Right now, more money is going into the administration then into the grant to marketing. In my opinion, that’s not the direction we should go. We should try to stay close to 50/50 on administration costs to marketing grant dollars.”
Mayor Dale Stainbrook also updated committee assignments for the City Council members. Baird was added to the Charter Commission, Dylane Klatt replaces Baird on the CVB Board, Vedbraaten fills a vacancy on the Development and Policy Review Committee. Joe Kresl, who before being selected for City Council was the Planning Commission chair, will replace Stainbrook on the Planning Commission, Steve Erickson will replace Stainbrook on the Airport Commission, and Don Cavalier will replace Stainbrook on the Chamber Board.
Stainbrook said he was on many committees (five) before becoming mayor and some council members were only on one, so he thought they could take on more. “We have a couple of new council members, and we had to find openings for them,” said Stainbrook. “I have been on a lot of them, and it doesn’t mean I won’t continue to go to meetings. There were a couple (councilmembers) that were only on one committee, and I think they deserve to have another one. They are okay with it and a couple asked to be on a committee I was on. I had no problem taking my name off as far as being on that committee, so that’s the way it worked out.”
Stainbrook is also requesting a joint meeting of the City Council and CHEDA Board with a suggested date of Monday, March 30. The meeting concluded with a closed session for negotiations discussion under MN Government Data Practices Act Statute 13D.03, Subd. 1 (b).
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