The Crookston City Council met Monday night in the council chambers at City Hall. Joe Kresl took his Oath of Office for the Ward 5 Council seat that was officially vacant for just two weeks but had been without a vote since September as Dale Stainbrook served as Acting Mayor.
Kresl said he believes the council will work well together, moving forward. “I think it’s going to be a good thing,” said Kresl. “I’ve wanted to try this venture for a long time, and being on the Planning Commission for as long as I have, I do have a little insight into what’s going on. I think from people I’ve talked to on the council already that we’re going to work very well together, and hopefully, everything goes smooth.”
A resolution was passed to vacate the gravel portion of Eickhof Boulevard as part of the Natures View Estates Plat 5 addition. With that passing, Widseth Smith Nolting can begin the design phase of the Plat explained Interim City Administrator Angel Weasner. “Now that we have the street vacation, we can apply that toward the Plat design,” said Weasner. “And with the Plat design approved, we can send the request to our engineering firm so they can produce the plans and specs as part of the development agreement.”
The consent agenda included approving the February 24 meeting minutes, bills and disbursements in the amount of $286,978.60, accept donations totaling $350 for Kids First, and a resolution to appoint Jennifer Tate to the Planning Commission to fill the unexpired term of Joe Kresl. There were also resolutions to approve the donation of a surplus network service cabinet to the Crookston Youth Foundation and to call for a public hearing to change zoning for Nature View Estates Plat 5. The final item on the consent agenda is to approve a regulation to declare an emergency for the City of Crookston for the anticipated spring flood event.
Mayor Stainbrook explained the declaration of an emergency is a formality to speed of the response and assistance for a known possible emergency. “It’s just formality,” said Stainbrook. “If we need to go out and rent a piece of equipment or have somebody come in with a piece of equipment, we just go ahead and do it. Without it, it would be a lot of red tape (if needed) to go back to FEMA and try to get money back or even get the equipment if you don’t have an emergency declaration.”
The council also finalized plans for two additional meetings this week, one to set the community profile for the city administrator search on Thursday, and the council’s annual strategic planning session on Saturday explains Weasner. “Thursday at 5:00 p.m., the council will be meeting to approve a community profile,” said Weasner. “This is kind of the advertisement that will be sent out regarding the city administrator search. Saturday, we have our annual strategic planning session. We will be meeting at the Crookston Inn at 7:00 a.m. And we will discuss things we have done in the past, things we’ve been working on this year, and what the council would like to move forward on in the future.”
The previous meeting to approve the community profile was canceled, which has added about two weeks to the expected timeline for hiring a new administrator said, Weasner. “It did alter the timeline a little bit,” said Weasner. “They did move it back an additional two weeks, so the projected start date for a future city administrator would be near the end of June. It may be pushed into July depending on what timeframe they have to give at their (current) position.”
