The Ways & Means Committee meeting consisted of information on possible layouts for land development around the Crookston Sports Center and an update on the new audio/video system for livestreaming city meetings.
City Administrator Amy Finch said the layouts presented to the City Council were to get them thinking about possibilities for the land around the Crookston Sports Center. “Many years ago, there were some initial talks about what a layout could look like over by Drafts for that land already owned by the City,” said Finch. “We had asked Rich (Clauson, City Engineer from Widseth) to show us some options. Tonight was just an opportunity to get some ideas in front of the Council and get them thinking and get their feedback at a later date.”
Clauson presented two potential layouts. Layout one had 192 lots, and layout two had 205 lots with sizes ranging from 85 feet wide and 115 feet deep to 115 feet wide and 150 feet deep. “This isn’t going to happen overnight, but it would be nice to say – maybe option one is what we’re thinking,” said Clauson. “It’s not etched in stone, but it gives us a starting point to start laying out utilities. Drainage issues, there are obviously overland water concerns. That is going to be a big discussion. Maybe we’ll have to consult with the county to get some suggestions from them, some suggestions from our water resource people in-house at WSN. That needs to be addressed before we really dive into this thing. It may change a little bit based on the drainage issues and solutions.”
While there are drainage issues on the land, there are no wetlands, according to Finch. “There are no wetlands, just water issues,” said Finch. “There is a bit of a difference. While wetlands can have water issues, you can have water issues and not wetlands. On that property, there are no wetland designations, but there are some water issues. That would have to be a part of the design and plan for how those would be handled through detention ponds, drainage, and those types of things.”
City of Crookston Information Technology Director Chad Palm also updated the committee on when city meetings would start being livestreamed. “Our plan is to have the livestream capability in place for the next Council meeting,” said Palm. “Our plan is to simultaneously livestream out to YouTube and Facebook Live.”
Palm said the city has a YouTube channel here. “There is one that exists,” said Palm. “And there are a couple of older videos that are archived. But that is where we plan to push out our livestreams, and then, we will have archived versions of the livestreams available for viewing as well.”
Councilwoman Kristie Jerde asked if City Council meetings would also be broadcast on Channel 3. “That is the plan,” said Palm. “There is some modification that is necessary to the existing software that pushes out the video to Public Access Channel 3 now. But when that’s complete, we hope to have the livestream available out on Channel 3 as the Council meeting is taking place. And then intermittent, or I should say scheduled, replays of those meetings as well.”
Councilman Clayton Briggs also asked if there would be away to show the presentations displayed on the Chamber walls and the livestreams on councilmembers’ computers, so they were easier to read, and Palm said that will require research into additional software. “That is an additional technology that we would need to introduce to make that available,” said Palm. “That is something I’ll be looking into and the capabilities there.”
