Karie Kirschbaum, Executive Director of the Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority, has announced her departure from the position later this month. Her final day with the City of Crookston will be January 16.
Kirschbaum will be taking a job in the private sector and she loved working in Crookston. “I’m going back out in the private sector. I’ll be back out as an executive salesperson for a grain company,” said Kirschbaum. “It’s been really fun to help this community and other communities in our region. Being raised in a small town is the very reason I’ve been able to accomplish many of the things I’ve done in my life. And the morals that you’re raised with, the integrity, the look people in the eye, giving them a handshake, keeping your word, things that we really take for granted when you live here. But if you go away, you realize people aren’t like that everywhere.”
In her three-plus years, Kirschbaum and her staff secured over $13 million in grants for projects in the City of Crookston. “The first 10 million were without matches, other than maybe help with a grant writer or an engineer here and there. I think we figured out we matched $2,500,” said Kirschbaum. “Right now with the industrial park, we’ll have a little bit bigger haul on that. That grant is for $3.3 million. We were awarded from the US EDA, and we’ll be applying for another grant again from DEED to help match some of those funds.”
Kirschbaum said that a lot of work had been done before she took over. “You come to find out there’s been a lot of legwork done in Crookston where people have done projects, they’ve done studies, and they put things together. So a lot of the stuff that we’ve done the last couple of years has been taking packages that were maybe put together in 2018 or 2019, then COVID hit and we’ve been able to start to implement them,” said Kirschbaum. “I hope that the people in Crookston who have been working on some of these projects feel justified in seeing these things come to pass with the infrastructure now coming into the Industrial Park. I know people said, well, we’ve been trying to do it for 20 years. Well, we are really getting it done. So we’re pretty excited.”
The projects the City of Crookston is working on will help grow the tax base through new construction, business, and residential development, as well as other initiatives. “We have to increase our tax base. Our residents are taxed to the nines, and if we don’t expand housing and we don’t expand our business….commercial property is a higher tax business,” said Kirschbaum. “The more commercial districts we get built up, the more our taxes are going to be able to go down for our residents. So that’s why the industrial park is such a big deal, because that’s going to bring a lot of revenue in for the city for the tax base.”
There is a lot of interest in the Industrial Park and there could be a lot of exciting news coming over the next several years. “People are going to be so happy. When we can start to talk, we’re on the no disclosure things right now with some of the situations happening. But just getting that railroad spur in there started stirring it up,” said Kirschbaum. “And then, you know, Farmers Union bought the Ag Innovation Campus property and they’re developing some organic fertilizer stuff over there. And then other people have connected. So there’s really good interest up there. So I would say to the people who have believed in that project for 20 years and have tried to do things out there, and made headway and got the road put up there originally, the Ag Innovation Campus Road, you should celebrate all the work you did, and we’re going to keep building on that.”
Kirschbaum said she has a great staff and there are a lot of people to thank. “And I just have to give a shout-out to our city, everyone at City Hall, and Taylor Wyum on my staff. Also, Jennifer Hecht, she was here for a while, and just good folks. You know, Corky Reynolds. A lot of this got started with Corky, you know, and I working together to get things moving, and Nick Nichols was on my board. He’s always a driver, and he kind of iron sharpens iron. My CHEDA board, they have historically been and are just a great team of people to work with. They get together, they collaborate, they’re sharp, they know how to do business. So I feel really confident,” said Kirschbaum. “And even with leaving Taylor behind to take over the reins here and to move forward with things, I think that there’s a lot of support. And I know the community will continue to support her.“
The grants that the City of Crookston has received since Kirschbaum took over are listed below.
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