The City of Crookston Ways & Means Committee met on Monday night at the Crookston City Hall Council chambers and approved the Nature’s View Estates cul-de-sacs to be included in the planning process for 2019 street projects. The bid process would be contingent on the approval of the final plat. Councilman Tom Vedbraaten asked Pat Kelly, director for Public Works about whether there were funds for the project. “I just asked him if we had funds available as we’ve been working a few years on this and I’ve just been waiting for it to come because I think there will be some nice houses,” said Vedbraaten, adding it should be nice for the City. “Bob (Herkenhoff) has done a nice job over there getting some dirt moved and it will be nice to see what can go in there.”
The committee also approved their meeting reports from the December 10 and December 26 Ways Means Committee meeting. During the open or other portion of the meeting Councilman Clayton Briggs, Bobby Baird and Dale Stainbrook expressed concerns to Crookston Police Chief Paul Biermaier about some complaints and observations they’ve heard or seen with snowmobiles this winter, including driving through yards, plants and on the Veterans Memorial Trail, which has signage prohibiting motorized vehicles. After being asked about setting goals for the year, City Administrator Shannon Stassen said he will be meeting with the department heads to go over each of their goals, stating with a new council, they will probably set goals for the City a few weeks later than they did in 2018.
Councilman Jake Fee also shared that he had found information on a grant program from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) for funding from Minnesota’s Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. Neither Stassen nor Scott Riopelle, director for Parks and Recreation, were aware of the program and Fee said he’d like to see a pedestrian walking bridge over the river similar to one Fergus Falls received money for and he will forward the information on.
