The Ways & Means Committee on Monday approved adding $50,000 to the Building Better Business (B3) program. The program, which the Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) administers, was started in 2019 and offers grants to Crookston businesses between $3,000-5,000 depending on qualifications.
The committee discussed both the program’s existing guidelines and whether it wished to continue the program by allocating another $50,000. CHEDA Executive Director Craig Hoiseth said the program got off to a slow start. Still, a fairly busy 2020 has depleted the funds available with four businesses that have already applied for grants for the December 22 CHEDA meeting. “At the last CHEDA Board meeting, we applied a couple of B3 grants, and that brought the balance down to $4,500,” said Hoiseth. “Great discussion and some talk about the guidelines. We’re going to have the conversation at the next CHEDA Board meeting to make sure those recommendations and discussion items are brought forward.”
Most of the grantees to this point have been ongoing businesses within Crookston. The committee discussed ways to include more entrepreneurs in the grant process. “One of the guidelines under the existing B3 program is that we have to have brick and mortar,” said Hoiseth. “There was some discussion out there that perhaps there is some fledging business out there that doesn’t have a business location yet determined and that this would be a good program to help thrust their business forward. Also, talked about home-based businesses, and this program could fit that. We’re going to look at those guidelines a little bit closer and see what we can come up with.”
The committee also expressed a desire for CHEDA to expand its marketing of the grant program and a wish to include ongoing funding of the B3 program in the budget planning for 2022 next year. Asked whether he could take some of the $50,000 the committee was awarding to market the program, Hoiseth said the CHEDA fund could be used for marketing so that all the money is left available for businesses.
ICE RINKS/POOLS
Councilman Jake Fee brought up whether the city could help residents with flooding their ice rinks or possibly fill their pools. The City Councilmen were supportive of the idea overall but unsure of how to proceed.
Fee said it would be nice to provide a little extra service to residents. “I think we’re seeing that more people are putting skating rinks in their backyard and in the summer have pools,” said Fee. “We talked about finding some way for providing them with some water to flood their rinks or fill their pool. A little extra service for our citizens to make sure we’re giving them an opportunity for their kids to take advantage of that. We’re going to bring it up at the next meeting to see what they come up with.”
Several ideas were thrown out by the Councilmen, including using Parks and Recreation, which already floods the outdoor rink at Alexander Park and the skate trail in town. Parks and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle said the problem with that is that his department wouldn’t have enough man-hours to complete its work, especially in a tough snow season.
Another suggestion was to use a fire hydrant or tanker from the Dire Department. Fire Chief Tim Froeber explained that hydrants are drained down during the winter and that the Fire Department has pump trucks, not tankers. Froeber said he wouldn’t be comfortable using a fire truck to flood rinks because of the possibility of receiving a fire call while doing so and then having an empty truck. The solution that seemed to pick up the most steam was offering a rebate or reduced fee on the water bill for households that fill either a pool or ice rink throughout the year.
The committee asked City Administrator Amy Finch to look into ways for the city to help residents with their rinks or pools. Councilman Don Cavalier had wanted the question to go before the Park Board, which won’t meet until January; however, others disagreed. Fee said even if the Park Board said no to filling rinks, we’d still want to talk about other options. And Councilman Dylane Klatt said the city could encourage a little fun too. He added just because another town is or isn’t doing something doesn’t mean Crookston shouldn’t’ do it. “I think anything the city can do to help kids get outside,” said Klatt. “We live in Minnesota, and skating is a part of our fabric. So, we need to help anybody that wants to build their own rink and get kids out to play.”
Councilman Steve Erickson also shared a concern that there should be some lighting on the walking paths at night. He said the city put a lot of money into them and spends a lot cleaning them, so it might as well make them available to be used. Councilman Tom Vedbraaten also suggested the lighting needed to be addressed on the “Welcome to Crookston” signs noting several lights are out.
