The Crookston Ways & Means Committee met on Monday night with councilmembers Don Cavalier, Bobby Baird, and Joe Kresl along with Mayor Dale Stainbrook, interim City Administrator and City Attorney Corky Reynolds present at City Hall. Councilmen Jake Fee, Steve Erickson, Tom Vedbraaten, Dylane Klatt, and Clayton Briggs along with Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority Executive Director Craig Hoiseth present via Google Hangout Meets.
Weasner shared with the committee that David Drown Associates (DDA), the firm hired to search for a city administrator, had been in contact that they had received 11 candidates for the position but didn’t feel comfortable bringing any of them forward for interviews. Weasner told the committee the firm had expected more but has noticed a trend with the COVID-19 and the stay-at-home orders throughout much of the country that several positions were getting fewer people applying then expected. Because of that, Weasner said DDA was suggesting the search be placed on hold and that they report the job in mid-May or early June, which the committee agreed to explained Weasner. “We will be looking at the search firm to lead us on another opening at a later date, either mid-May or the beginning of June,” said Weaner. “When the determination is made that it is a good time, we’ll put it out as an open position again. At this point, there were not any candidates that they wanted to bring forward.”
The second attempt at a search being pushed a month or more out could delay the final interviews until the middle of the city’s budget season in August, said Weasner. “We will keep it open most likely for a month,” said Weasner. “Then they do some video, and the council has to decide who they want to bring forward. Then, we do in-person interviews here in Crookston, and then, they would potentially be here. So, it pushes the interviews into the August timeframe.”
The committee also discussed the Spring Clean-up Week. Stainbrook kicked off the discussion saying he believed the city should cancel the spring clean-up and just hold on in the fall to keep both city and county staff safe because the virus can live on some surfaces for up to 24 hours. Stainbrook said there are a lot of people who come to town and rummage through the piles. And Kresl noted that if you’re going to push it back into mid-to-late summer, you’re just a month or two away from the fall clean-up, so why not only have the one.
Vedbraaten asked if the fall date would remain the same or if the date would be changed. Erickson said that he thought it should be moved up a few weeks because, without a spring clean-up, there might be more to pick up than usual. He also added that the last week of October, when the clean-up usually is held, could also have snow, which there was this last fall, to hinder further the pickup beyond the possibility of a more considerable amount of material being on the curb. The committee voted unanimously to cancel spring clean-up and move the fall clean-up up to a week to be determined in September.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Mayor Stainbrook. “With this COVID, we don’t know what’s going to happen next month or the month after. They are saying this could hang around anywhere from 8-18 months. It’s about protecting our community and our city workers. They say if you are a carrier, this stuff can hang onto metal and cardboard and who knows what else. I know the county doesn’t want a lot of traffic either at the transfer station or the landfill. It’s kind of where we’re at with it.”
The final item on the agenda was to review the land option agreement being crafted for Epitome Energy. Stainbrook questioned why the land option was for $1,000 a year when the land was rented for more. Hoiseth explained that the land option only grants the ability to execute an option on the property and that the execution of the agreement can only happen once the full price, $360,000, is paid along with additional agreements for the purchase and development of the property. He added that initially the land option was discussed for $10,000 a year with the land given for free, but that had since changed to a fair market price of $360,000 for the 60 acres.
The land option needs to be approved by the city council, and Weasner said they would make some changes to the land option before bringing it back to the committee for additional review. “We had some terms that were proposed in a meeting between the developer (Dennis Egan) and Mr. Hoiseth because all options regarding a land option have to go before council,” said Weasner. “They have agreed to a $1,000 a year for the land option with an extra two-year extension possible for $1,000 a year with a fair market price of $360,000 for the 60 acres. There is some language that needs to be added into the contract, and we need to make sure that the developer is okay with some other language that was in the contract.”
One of those changes will be clarifying who would be responsible for any penalties owed to the lessee of the land for farming. Baird said the way he read the agreement Epitome Energy would have access to the property and questioned what would happen in the lessee lost his sugar beet crop this year. The rest of the committee agreed with Baird that there needed to be a guarantee for the farm lease and that it also should be the developer’s responsibility, if they’ve executed the land option, to provide that guarantee. Reynolds said that the current lease has the city responsible, but that language could be added to the land option and changed in the lease agreement to transfer that guarantee to the developer once there is an execution of the land option. “As it presently exists, if there were some time of development that is on the property thought to be the home of Epitome Energy, the city would be responsible for any damage done to that particular crop or property,” said Reynolds. “There was a discussion had about what happens in the future if there is an option agreement entered into by the city and there is an existing farm lease at that time, who becomes responsible. That could either be the developer, Epitome, or the city, and that’s one of the terms we’re going to have to work out in discussions with the potential developer and the city.”
The committee also said they believed the term for the lease of the farmland should be reduced to one year from its current three years until the land option has either been executed has expired. Hoiseth also questioned a portion of the language in the document that states, “the developer may not without the specific written consent of the city, which the city may exercise in its sole, absolute discretion, assign or transfer any rights created by this option agreement.” Reynolds explained that was to ensure the city controlled what the developer could do with the contract. Hoiseth said he didn’t believe that would be agreeable to the client because it brings their possible business transaction into the public domain, adding that the developer’s agreement would ensure the property would still be developed as intended even with a potential sale.
The committee concluded the meeting by requesting that Hoiseth, Weasner, and Reynolds meet to update the information and massage the language from the disputed section to bring before the next Ways & Means Cshouommittee.
