The City Council of Crookston met Monday night in the City Hall Council Chambers. The majority of the night was planned to approve the modifying restated Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) enabling resolution. The vote passed, and CHEDA now has a new future ahead of itself.
CONSENT AGENDA
The consent agenda was brief, with the approval of meeting minutes from the June 28 meeting and a resolution to approve City of Crookston bills and disbursements in the amount of $160,141,27. The minutes were approved, and the resolution passed.
PUBLIC HEARING ON CHEDA
After the consent agenda items were taken care of, a public hearing was held for anyone to speak on the enabling resolution regarding CHEDA. A pair of letters were read before the board, one from CHEDA in response to City Council’s proposal, and one from Shannon Stassen, a Crookston resident.
A few took the opportunity to speak, with one being Paul Eickhof, treasurer of the CHEDA board; he challenged one of the letters read regarding the failure of CHEDA, saying, “Who believes that letter? Can anyone name one example of failure regarding CHEDA.” Eickhof also stated, “I don’t think you’re going to find a better board that will have more success.”
Others stated they believe that nothing would’ve been accomplished in the housing industry over the past few years without CHEDA. Former mayor Guy Martin said he believes it’s “Time for Unity in Crookston.” A few others spoke and gave their input before the vote took place. For the full video of the meeting and everyone who spoke, you can find the video below.
REGULAR AGENDA (FUTURE OF CHEDA)
The regular agenda for the night began with a vote on the enabling resolution regarding CHEDA. The motion passed in a five to three favor, and the CHEDA board will be dissembled effective tomorrow, July 13, and made up of the City Council of Crookston until a special meeting can take place to assemble a new board made up of seven members with at least two being from City Council.
Other changes that will occur with CHEDA will be the use of a community development advisory committee, and more of a focus on community development.
CHEDA President Kurt Heldstab shared his initial thoughts after the resolution was passed. “My comments will be this, I’ve been with CHEDA for 11 years, I want to thank any staff members I’ve ever had out there,” said Heldstab. “The biggest thing I want to do is thank all the board members who served with me. I’ve been honored to serve with them and learn so much, and one of their top characteristics in all of them was a vision they had for Crookston. Everyone came with that characteristic, and I’m proud to have been able to serve with them.”
Crookston City Attorney Charles “Corky” Reynolds spoke more on what this will look like now that the resolution has been passed. “The resolution keeps the CHEDA structure in place, the EDA in place, the HRA in place,” said Reynolds. “The EDA powers will be used if and when the city deems them necessary, housing authority, same programs continuing.”
City Administrator Amy Finch spoke more on the community development department process and next steps regarding that. “The City Council did pass the second final reading of the ordinance,” said Finch. “The department will now be defined and provide the makeup and duties of the department. The next steps will be providing a proposal for what the job description will look like for a director of the department, and City Council can be a part of that conversation being this will be something that is brand new.”
After the vote was passed, Steve Erickson, representative of ward two on the City Council, shared some of his thoughts on proceeding forward. “I look at the people that were on that board, and I think we need to consider having this board be a 50/50 of city council members and citizens,” said Erickson. “We talk about transparency, and yet we just threw pillars of the community out the door. When this starts, we need to include these people, and we need transparency. Every board we have has members of the community on it, and I think we need to start this one out that way, and if we need to change down the road, then we can change down the road.”
OTHER ITEMS
Other items included a resolution to accept donations for the Parks & Recreation Department, a resolution approving plans and specifications and calling for bids on the Central Park Campground improvements, and a resolution to approve the City of Crookston Fire and Rescue Services Mutual Aid Agreement.
The Parks & Recreation donations were passed anonymously, as was the Fire and Rescue Services Mutual Aid Agreement resolution. Crookston Fire Department Chief Tim Froeber spoke on the Mutual Aid Agreement. “What this means is that we have an agreement with the twelve fire departments in the county of Polk as well as six fire departments outside the county of Polk,” said Froeber. “This allows us to request mutual aid, which will give us staffing and equipment for any emergency that we cannot handle with our own equipment. Any department that we bring in will give us up to eight hours of service and commitment without any charge to the City of Crookston.”
The Central Park Campground Improvement was taken off the agenda and tabled until the next meeting, which will occur July 26, at 7:00 p.m. in the Crookston City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting will also discuss further action for CHEDA now that the resolution has passed.
