Month: November 2020

The Ways & Means Committee met on Monday evening with the committee moving to make additional cuts to the 2021 tax levy.  The levy had previously been cut to 5 percent after the preliminary levy was set at 6 percent in September.

Each percentage point in the city’s tax levy is equal to approximately $22,000. Councilman Jake Fee proposed taking out the $25,000 request from the Crookston Chamber for marketing to lower levy to around 4 percent before officially motioning to remove $22,000 from the budget. “We were able to get it down to 4 percent, which is good,” said Fee. “A lot of people in town recently found out that the residential valuations for the county went up about 10 percent. Even though at 5 percent, it wasn’t going to impact a $150,000 home, but their value increased, so they are paying more in taxes. We kind of went to work and took $22,000 out of Council approved budget items to get it down to 4 percent. Hopefully, that will be enough to offset a little bit of the increases to people’s properties.”

With the cut, there is approximately $8,000 in the City Council budget that is currently unassigned. That money could also be cut before the final levy is set or kept if an unforeseen project arises during the 2021 fiscal year.  Currently, the budget for 2021 doesn’t include funds from reserves, which the city has used several consecutive years to limit the levy increase for taxpayers. Councilman Dylane Klatt said, preserving the reserves and saving taxpayers money benefits everyone. “I think that’s a great thing if we can save our taxpayers some money,” said Klatt. “And without taking out of reserves, I think that is a win-win situation for us.”

The committee also voted to forward the appoint former City Councilman and County Commissioner Craig Buness to the Crookston Housing and Economic Development Authority (CHEDA) Board onto the next City Council meeting agenda to fill the unexpired term of Craig Morgan, who resigned in October. Buness will complete the term that expires in December 2021. The vote was 8-1 in favor of forwarding Buness’ appointment, with Klatt voting against. Klatt said he wanted to be able to interview appointees to commissions and boards before their appointment. “From what I hear, the guy is a great individual,” said Klatt.  “I’d just like to have the opportunity to visit with somebody and ask them some questions. I think some of these appointments might be a little hastily done. Maybe we can do some research sometimes. I sure after I meet the gentleman, he’s a great guy like everyone is saying.”

Mayor Dale Stainbrook said he believed Buness would be a great fit for the CHEDA Board. “Craig Morgan decided to step down from the CHEDA Board, and he’d been there for many years,” said Stainbrook. “He thought things through and had a lot of knowledge. I think Craig Buness is going to be a great fit for it. He asks tough questions and has been a City Council member at one time and also a County Commissioner. Even though he’s not involved with any city or county government, he sure seems to know what’s going on around the city and the county. I’m glad he’s on the CHEDA Board.”  

The committee also approved the City of Crookston agreement with Crookston Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) and the CVB board construction.  “It’s good to have everything moving in the right direction,” said Stainbrook. “They spent a lot of time on it. There will probably be a little tweaking with it down the road as far as how they distribute grant dollars. We have two Council members on it now. I think they’ll do a fantastic job. They’ll finish out the year, and we’ll see what happens with Council appointments next year.“

The committee also accepted the five-year capital plan prepared by department heads and approved a capital purchase of a new furnace/AC unit and water pumps for the Crookston Police Station. The furnace/AC unit was last replaced in approximately 1993 when the Police Department moved into the building. The water pumps being replaced are believed to be original to the building built in the 1950s.

The Crookston City Council met Monday night approving a law enforcement mutual aid agreement along with setting special assessments for 2020 street improvements and unpaid charges. No one attended the public hearings for the assessments.

The special assessments approved by the City Council totaled $167,352.85 for three street projects and the unpaid service charges.  Each is detailed below:

Project 972: street reconstruction of Radisson Road from University Avenue to approximately 400 feet east of Hoven Lane
Project Cost: $515,485.78
Assessment to property owners: $71,400 over 2-10 years at three percent         

Project 973: street reconstruction of 5th Ave from South Main Street to Sunflower Street
Project Cost: $346,912.35
Assessment to property owners: $52,800 over 2-10 years at three percent

Project 974: bituminous mill & overlay of Sahlstrom Drive from Fisher Ave to North Acres Drive
Project Cost: $104,912.35
Assessment to property owners: $37,261.95 over 2-10 years at three percent

Unpaid Water & Sewer Charges: $3,613.62 paid over one year
Code Enforcement Charges: $485.22 paid over one year
Mowing Charges: $1792.06 paid over one year

The Council unanimously approved a resolution in support of a mutual aid agreement for law enforcement. Crookston Police Chief Paul Biermaier said the agreement formally allows all police agencies to assist each other for a variety of reasons. “This one is between us and all law enforcement in the state,” said Biermaier. “So, anybody can ask us for mutual aid, and we can ask anybody else for mutual aid. So, up in the northern third of Minnesota, we all agreed to sign this specific one. There is a statute that allows for emergency mutual aid, this is just a more formal one. So, if we know of an event coming up, like for instance when President Trump came to Bemidji, Mike (Mastin, Bemidji Chief of Police) reached out for mutual aid from other agencies. So, a pre-planned event like that we can plan ahead and know what type of resources we have coming.”  

Biermaier added that the agreement also alleviates the question of what aid can be given and what can’t during an emergency. “It will cover anything we need from big activities, festivals, or any kind of civil disturbance,” said Biermaier. “It’s very good to have this in place simply because we’ve never had anything formalized before. It takes a load off of knowing for sure what we can and can’t do at the moment an emergency happens. This is very good pre-planning.”

All other items were on the consent agenda, which passed unanimously.

The Crookston School Board met Monday evening at the Crookston High School Choir and Orchestra room.  The board didn’t move on a motion to allow teachers to teach from home during distance learning, they heard an update from Crookston High School Ag Instructor Whitney Rupprecht and more.  The meeting recap is below.

MOTION DIES DUE TO LACK OF SECOND
The meeting started with Crookston School Board member Dave Davidson making a motion to give staff the choice to teach at the school or from home during distance learning.  The current school district policy requires the teachers to teach from the school unless they have a note from a doctor, are in quarantine, or many other reasons.  The motion died for a lack of a second from another board member.  “What I wanted was a chance to talk about the teacher’s situation going into distance learning.  I wanted the teachers to have the option to choose either working in the district or in the home,” said Davidson. “I was really disappointed that my motion died for a lack of a second because that didn’t give us a chance to discuss it.  I think the discussion was key and I really wanted your listeners and other people that follow these kinds of things to know why people thought the way they did in regards to this issue.”
Davidson added, “I believe we also sent a message to the professional staff and I’m not sure what it was specifically, but it was negative.”
After the motion died due to a lack of a second, a handful of district teachers walked out of the meeting. 

CROOKSTON HIGH SCHOOL AG PROGRAM UPDATE
Crookston High School Ag Instructor Whitney Rupprecht gave a presentation to the board and took several questions about the classes she teaches to start off the official portion of the meeting.  Rupprecht taught about 235 kids in 7-12 in the first quarter in a variety of classes ranging from Intro to Ag all to Leadership 101.  “The kids are learning life skills, the basics of agriculture.  They might never ever judge a cow in their life, but they learn how to explain their rationale and give their reasons,” said Rupprecht. “It is really those life skills like cooking.  I found out students didn’t know how to turn on a stove, one didn’t know how to wash a dish.  Life skills are huge right now with our students.”
Rupprecht added that so many students don’t know a lot about farms. “Students are so removed from the farm.  It’s no longer my grandma and grandpa farm, it’s a distant cousin they might see once a year,” said Rupprecht. “It is fun to be able to bring stuff into the school like we brought chickens into the school and eight chickens loose in the welding shop was fun to let them watch and catch them.”
Rupprecht said there are so many jobs that are Agriculture related outside of being a farmer. “Anything from the foodservice industry to the clothing industry.  I do photography on the side and I tell them if you love photography you could do photography and graphic design and specialize in an agricultural market and as long as you know the background information, people want to hire you.  It’s a growing field.”

Rupprecht said she is enjoying teaching in Crookston. “I seriously love all of my students,” said Rupprecht. “Crookston has been a welcoming community.  The students are amazing and are exciting to be in classes. I don’t if they love that I jump around the classroom, but I know they are paying attention.”

BUS HOIST PURCHASE–
The school board approved the purchase of a bus hoist for the new bus garage.  They went with the low bid of $38,854.66 from Gray Manufacturing out of Missouri.  Crookston School District Transportation Director Rick Niemela said he thought it was a good company and they have a patent on this kind of equipment. “The hoist will lift the bus up and it will be more efficient to do mechanical work,” said Superintendent Olson. “It will also be safer.”

AUDIT APPROVED –
The 2019-20 school year audit was approved and it was a good report. “We had a very good year fiscally and it comes down to ADM’s.  Enrollment went up and we made a switch in preschool that allowed us to get more seats,” said Superintendent Olson. “Our fund balance has increased, but as I look out over the next couple of years the state could have less revenue and that will mean less revenue for districts so it will help us weather the storm.”

OLD BUS GARAGE DISCUSSION
The school board discussed possible options for the old bus garage properties.  There is a brick building, a white wood building, and a white metal building.  The district plans to be moved into the new bus garage by mid-January.  Discussion ranged from tearing the buildings down, to using the metal building for storage, and another option was selling the building.  There have been several entities interested in the brick building and if the district sells, they would have to sell to the highest bidder. “We have some numbers for a teardown and what it looks like,” said Superintendent Olson.  “We will continue to get more numbers and other pieces to the puzzle and bring more information to the board in the next meeting.”

MAIN AGENDA –
The board also approved the following –
Fundraising requests for the school year.
The application to the Minnesota State High School League.
To combine and assign the polling place (St. Paul’s Lutheran Church) for a school district election not held on the day of a statewide election (this is done every year).

CONSENT AGENDA –
The board unanimously approved the resignation of Rochelle Chaput as an instructional assistant at Highland School.
They approved the reinstatement of Tammy Warcken from her one-year leave of absence as an instructional assistant at Highland School.
The master agreement with the instructional assistant group for 2019-20, 2020-21 was approved.
The board accepted donations of $7,435 from the Pirate Fine Arts Boosters, and $3,650 from Lowell Township in leftover money from the CARES act to be used towards COVID expenses.
The Crookston High School winter activity coaches list was confirmed.  The coaches for each activity are listed below –

Boys Basketball –
Head – Greg Garmen
Assistant – Jason Tangquist
C squad – Brett Brenden
8^th – Lon Boike
7^th – Nate Lubarski
Volunteer coaches – Kevin Weber/Tom Anderson

Girls Basketball –
Head – Darin Zimmerman
Assistant – Tayler Christensen
C Squad – Emily Samuelson
8^th grade – Brandi Nesseth
7^th grade – Jamie Kresl

Boys Hockey –
Head – Josh Hardy
Assistants – Connor Morgan and Sam Melbye

Girls Hockey –
Head – Tim Moe
Assistants – Emily Meyer and Stacy Olson
Volunteer – Nick Biermaier

Wrestling –
Head – Wes Hanson
Assistants – Colton Weiland, and Daniel Rooney
Volunteers – Cade Peterson, and Jake Larkin

Dance – Grace Espinoza
Speech – Brandon Adams, Colleen MacRae, Gaye Wick, Phyllis Hagen
One-Act – Beth Carlson
Skating – Erica Uttermark
Knowledge Bowl – Katelyn Stegman
Trainer – Luke Biermaier
Math Counts – Dana Erickson and Andrea Adrian
Junior High Student Council – Katelyn Stegman

The next meeting will be on December 3 at 5:00 p.m. to discuss the learning model.  The next regular meeting will be Monday, December 14 with a Truth-in-Taxation hearing with a meeting to follow starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room.

The Crookston Public Library, Fertile Public Library and McIntosh Public Library are now offering curbside delivery and select services by appointment only. This service update is effective as of Monday, November 23. To learn about the services available community members are encouraged to call their library. 

Phone Numbers:
Crookston Library:  218-281-4522
Fertile Public Library: 218-945-6137
McIntosh Public Library: 218-563-4555

All three locations are branches of Lake Agassiz Regional Library, which boasts a large collection of downloadable eBooks and eAudiobooks which can be read on a mobile device, e-reader or computer without leaving home and can be accessed at larl.org/ebooks. Cardholders also have free access to an entertainment streaming service similar to Netflix called hoopla, which can be accessed at larl.org/hoopla. Those without a library card can apply at larl.org/applyonline. 

Crookston School District Superintendent Jeremy Olson released information on COVID-19 cases in the district and while they have seen more cases in the last two weeks, there still hasn’t been spread within the school.   The information he sent out is below. 

As of the time of this email, this is the most current data for Crookston Public Schools for last week. 

The Minnesota Department of Health has released the COVID-19 testing information for Monday, November 23 and the state reported 6,070 confirmed positive cases out of 80,527 tests conducted for a positive rate of 8 percent. The state also reported 283 probable cases and 24 deaths (no deaths were reported in northwest Minnesota.
Polk County reported 59 new cases, Roseau County-47, Pennington County-26, Marshall County-23, Norman County-9, Mahnomen County-8, Red Lake County-6, Lake of the Woods County-6. All the numbers are below-

Updated November 23, 2020
Updated daily at 11 a.m., with data current as of 4 p.m. the previous day.

Data is for cases that were tested and returned positive. All data is preliminary and may change as cases are investigated. Many data points are collected during case interviews. Data presented below is for all cases, regardless of interview status. Data for cases pending interview may be listed as “unknown/missing.”

The COVID-19 case definition was recently updated to include antigen testing. Previously, cases were only reported through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. Positive PCR test results are considered confirmed cases. Positive antigen test results are considered probable cases. Confirmed and probable cases are reported separately in the following areas:

• Newly reported cases
• Total approximate completed tests
• Total positive cases
• Total cases by county of residence

Death, hospitalization, demographic (age, gender, race), likely exposure, and residence type data combine PCR (confirmed) and antigen (probable) cases for an overall total.

All probable cases get the same public health follow up and recommendations as cases confirmed by PCR tests.

Other Statistics

• Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome In Children (MIS-C) Statistics
• Minnesota COVID-19 Public Dashboard
• Minnesota’s COVID-19 Response and Preparation Capacity
• Dial Back Dashboard
• CDC: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Cases in the U.S.
• Minnesota COVID-19 Modeling