The Crookston Ways and Means Committee met Tuesday evening following the City Council meeting in the Council Chambers in City Hall.
The agenda included information on an industrial park railroad spur project and a discussion on the new City Administrator’s contractual terms.
RAILROAD SPUR PROJECT
The Industrial Park Railroad Spur project has been in the works for some time and it is starting to become a reality with grant funding awarded to the City of Crookston and Minnesota Northern Railroad. Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority Executive Director Kari Kirschbaum said the City wasn’t comfortable being the owner of the railroad spur and Minnesota Northern Railroad agreed to be the owner and applied for grant funding and received $1.56 million. “The Minnesota Railroad Improvement grant was awarded to Minnesota Northern Railroad and originally we started looking at putting a railroad spur on the industrial park earlier this year,” said Kirschbaum. “The City was pretty hesitant to own it as nobody really wanted that to happen so Minnesota Northern put in a grant request and they will be owning the railroad spur and that was awarded a couple of weeks ago so that is another investment that has come in.”
The rail spur project is being modeled after the Fosston project. Chet Bodine, with the State of Minnesota, has been working with Kirschbaum on the project for almost two years. Bodine worked with Fosston and said they were able to get funding through the EDA. The benefit of having a public railroad spur is it would help farmers and businesses in the region. “The way I understand it is the last public transload site was in Dilworth and closed in the 1990s,” said Bodine. “A lot of specialty crop growers don’t have a place nearby to take their stuff. Some are taking it to St. Paul to put on rail car there to go back west this way. We heard that enough times that we said let’s figure something out and the AIC (Ag Innovation Campus) was a big advocate saying this would benefit the region so we pushed it.”
The city will apply for a USEDA grant of about $3 million. Still, as a condition of that grant, Crookston would have to match the grant 1:1. The city’s potential plan is to apply for a BDPI grant of roughly $2 million, so the city of Crookston would only have to come up with a remaining $1-1.3 million dollars to complete the project. The funds would be needed for roadways and infrastructure in the new industrial park. The purpose will be to entice new businesses to build around the improved area.
Sean Ranum of the Northwest Regional Development Program said the City currently sees tax revenue of $136,600 a year in the current Industrial Park of 81 acres. The new Industrial Park is 90 acres and if fully developed could be a big economic impact for the City of Crookston. Ranum added that the Ag Innovation Center paid over $18,000 in taxes last year on a 10 acre space. He added that revenues would be higher with new builds.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR CONTRACT DETAILS
The committe discussed contractual terms for Jeff Shoobridge, the selected candidate for City Adminstrator. Shoobridge said he would start no later than July 15, 2024 and agreed to a salary of $135,000 per year with a review in six months. He is also requesting up to $5,000 for moving expenses with receipts required for reimbursement. He will also get six years seniority as part of his contract. The contract will be finalized and the City Council will vote on it at their next meeting on Monday, June 10.
