The Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) Board met Tuesday morning approving three invoices for permitting for Epitome Energy and received an update from Epitome Energy CEO Dennis Egan, who joined the meeting virtually. The invoices were to Wenck Associates (2 invoices) and Sunde Engineering; the two companies contracted to complete the permitting process.
The three invoices totaled $63,653.48. In total, the CHEDA Board has authorized nine invoices totaling $162,753.48 for the permitting process from the $250,000 loan they approved for Epitome Energy.
Egan said there has been a renewed energy surrounding the project recently. “The new year has really brought continued energy, no pun intended around our project,” said Egan. “Our most recent trip to Crookston was really extremely successful in that we had a number of meetings with farmers, stakeholders, and other interested organizations. And that actually led to new seed investors. Both farmers and business equity came to the table. That was extremely positive in terms of still having the regional community engaged and ultimately understanding where this project is going to end up.”
Egan also said Epitome Energy had decided to change some equipment to allow for RBD production (Refined, Bleached & Deodorized) of soybean oil that is safe for human consumption, allowing for more uses for the 60 million gallons of oil the facility would produce annually. Epitome Energy hopes to submit all the permitting applications early in the second quarter and expects approval within three to four months of their submission with a possibility for groundbreaking this fall.
Executive Director Craig Hoiseth updated the board that CHEDA is still waiting on the Minnesota Legislature to update the 2020 bonding bill before proceeding with a road to connect the future site of the Ag Innovation Campus with Ingersoll Dr. “We plan to put a road in from Ingersoll from the north to the south,” said Hoiseth. “We’re kind of waiting to get that language reconciled from the legislative body on the bonding bill to include the word – design. Certainly, plan to move forward with that this summer.”
The plumbing project at the Oak Court Apartments is also expected to be completed earlier this month. A portion of the remaining dollars in the project’s contingency fund will be used to update the carpet that was beaten up in the hallways during the project. The board also authorized Hoiseth to complete an additional bond application for another project at Oak Court. “There are some general obligation bonds that the state legislature has approved,” said Hoiseth. “What we want to do is apply for some bonding to fix our roof. Today the CHEDA Board agreed to put forth matching leverage dollars (up to 20 percent) with that application that could go in here in April.”
Hoiseth told the board that CHEDA staff believe the current roof on the building has been in place since 1990. Over the past several months, CHEDA has also been using legal avenues to secure an overdue loan to A+ Mobile Brakes. Previously, a Harley Davidson had been secured as a portion of the collateral from owner Paul Kezar. Hoiseth told the board the motorcycle had been returned as part of a settlement in the court proceedings. “A+ Mobile Brakes had gone delinquent in their account, and the business closed here in town, so the board directed the staff to move forward with some legal activity to try and grab hold of that remaining balance,” said Hoiseth. “We’ve been successful in that conclusion, and that includes some legal fees. The loan balance was about $4,400. We settled with the customer for $8,000 in the end. However, our legal fees were such that it’s going to cost us more than that $4,000 extra. So, lesson learned that it does cost money to recover loans, but I think the board wanted to send a message that we were doing our best to recover any taxpayer revolving loan funds.”
The board also approved two additional B3 grants to Synergy and Total Lawn Care. These were the first applications to go through the newly established B3 committee before being presented to the board. “We had three B3 applications,” said Hoiseth. “Last month, the board approved a new format for the B3 that was essentially having Administrator (Amy) Finch and two council members that don’t sit on CHEDA (Dylane Klatt and Wayne Melbye) to work with me as a committee to interview the applicants. Of the three, one was put aside until next month, waiting for more information, but the other two were approved. Everybody commented that the committee process was very good and helpful for both the applicant and CHEDA Board to take those recommendations.”
Total Lawn Care received $4,000 for signage and landscaping around its new facility on Bruce St. Synergy received $1,630 for new branding, a sign, and marketing. Councilman Wayne Melbye explained that during the interview process, the review committee identified that some of the original $3,000 request from Synergy was for inventory, which the CHEDA Board had previously not authorized as a use of the grant funding. Hence, they worked with owner Dillon Fenno during the interview to identify the eligible items in the request.
Hoiseth also updated the board that the Crookston’s Little Pirates Company was negotiating a price for a facility to establish a child care center in town and that Gotta Love Kids was operational. Hoiseth said he believes one of the biggest needs in the community remains the need for infant child care. The board also approved the CHEDA staff insurance program to follow the city’s negotiated contract with the AFSCME union and passed a resolution accepting $87,879 in capital funds from Housing and Urban Development. The board also extended the repayment deadline for a loan to the Prairie Skyline Foundation until September 1 due to ongoing material and labor delays. All work needs to be completed before the state funding comes through to pay off the loan, which has a balance of approximately $20,000 on the original $75,000 loan.
Hoiseth also informed the board of a concrete issue with half the driveway of a former construction trades house on the corner of Eickhof Blvd, and Barrette St. Hoiseth said the concrete on one end, which he estimated was about four years old, was flaking away due to an issue the contractor had with warm weather when laying it. Councilman Steve Erickson said he thought concrete should have a longer life than four years, and Hoiseth said that he’d be working with the homeowner and contractor to address the issue he estimated would cost about $10,000 to repair.
