Month: January 2021

The Crookston City Council had a short meeting on Monday night for new Councilmembers Kristie Jerde (Ward 1) and Wayne Melbye (At-Large), along with returning Councilmembers Clayton Briggs (Ward 3) and Joe Kresl (Ward 5) to take their oaths of office.

Jerde was sworn into her first term in office after defeating incumbent Jake Fee in the general election by 116 votes. Jerde said she’s looking forward to being on the Council. “I’m just looking forward to a new year,” said Jerde. “And working with this Council to get things done for the betterment of Crookston.”

Jerde is the first female on the City Council since Cindy Gjerswold resigned in August 2019. Melbye, a long-time Councilman and former Mayor of Crookston, returned to the City Council after not seeking reelection for Mayor in 2018. He won the race for the At-Large Councilmember seat, defeating incumbent Bobby Baird by 402 votes in November. Melbye said it’s nice to return to the City Council. “It’s just kind of nice to get back in the chair here, be part of Crookston, and make sure we’re moving forward,” said Melbye. “There are a lot of projects out there and a lot of things of interest. Don’t know where we’re going to start. It’s just right at the beginning, and get back in the grove here and see what we can do.”

Additionally, one other item was on the agenda. A resolution to set the 2021 depositories for the City of Crookston. City Administrator Amy Finch said the depositories are declared annually to declare where the City of Crookston can conduct its financial business.  “Our main event tonight was swearing in our new elected officials,” said Finch. “We just had one item on the consent agenda, which is an annual reoccurring item of designating the depositories for 2021. They include our local institutions and the Municipal Money Market with the League of Minnesota Cities. And RBC Capital Markets, where we keep our investments. It just allows us to open accounts and transact business. It also sets the signers, which are the mayor and city administrator per charter.”

The local depositories are Northern Sky Bank, Bremer Bank, American Federal Bank, and First Community Credit Union.

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As COVID-19 numbers improve following the pause on activities around the holidays, Governor Walz will address Minnesotans live on Wednesday, January 6 at 2:00 pm to announce a loosening of restrictions on indoor dining and other settings. KROX will carry the press conference live.

WHAT: Live update on the state’s response to COVID-19 followed by an in-person media availability

WHO: Governor Tim Walz;Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) Commissioner Steve Grove

Media Availability: Governor Walz;DEED Commissioner Steve Grove; Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) Commissioner Jan Malcolm; MDH Infectious Disease Director Kris Ehresman. 

On Monday, January 4, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office was informed of a counterfeit $20 bill received by Ultima Bank Minnesota located in the City of Fosston. At this time, this is the only counterfeit bill reported to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in the area.  

The holiday season is a busy time of year for exchanging paper currency and counterfeit bills can be easily overlooked. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office reminds individuals and businesses to check paper currency and report anything that appears suspicious or counterfeit.

This investigation remains on-going at this time.

On Monday, a lane of traffic around the Fournet Building was blocked off as work began on the storefronts that line N Broadway. Contractors began placing the framing for the glass storefronts Monday and will work the next two weeks to install those storefronts.

Developer Jeff Evers said one lane of N Broadway will be blocked off all week for the installation of the storefronts and the steel support beams to be placed for the new skylight. “The storefronts start going in as of today,” said Evers. “The road will be blocked all week because of the steel structure coming for the skylight. That will be a few days. Things are exciting. Things are moving right along. We have the structure torn out for the skylight, so it’s wide open inside now.”

The support beams will run from the basement up to the rooftop of the Fournet Building and take several days to install. “This is where the steel structure will go all the way from the basement to the roof and then hold a rack the skylight will be on,” said Evers. “A bunch of steel beams. That’s what they’ll be working on in the next couple of days. Hopefully, that will be looking good by the end of the week. Things are moving along. It’s going to be pretty fun to see it as one big skylight instead of three little ones. It really opened it up a lot.”

Evers said he hopes to install the new 50-foot by 20-foot skylight by May. “We’re shooting tentatively for May 1 or before that,” said Evers. “We’ll see how things go. Obviously, it’s a special order, so it’s going to take a little time to build. Getting the steel in will be big and exciting to have that done now.”

The rest of the building’s work is also starting to pick up.  Contractors for the fire suppression system, heating-ventilation-air conditioning, and electrical all working in the building. “The sprinkler people are getting their stuff done,” said Evers. “Electricians are getting a lot done. HVAC is starting to get going now. Things are moving along. All the trades are doing well, and they’ll be a lot of progress in the next few weeks. It is going to look really different here, coming up.”

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RiverView has added a night of CPR classes as the January 14 classes are full. Therefore, two CPR classes will be held Friday, January 15, from 6-10 p.m. One class will be held for certification, $50, and another for friends and family – no certificate is given, no cost. Registration is required. No walk-ins will be allowed. COVID-19 restrictions will be followed. For more information or to register, call 281-9405. 

The Minnesota Department of Health is reporting 2,948 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, 200 probable cases from antigen testing, and 13 deaths. The confirmed cases were the result of 8,709 for a positive rate of 33.9 percent.

Marshall County had 4 new confirmed cases, Pennington County-4 cases, Roseau County-4 cases, Polk County-3 cases, and Lake of the Woods County-3 cases.

Updated January 4, 2021
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.”

Positive PCR test results are considered confirmed cases. Positive antigen test results are considered probable cases.

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

Other Statistics

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

Data in the data tables is current as of 11 a.m. daily. Dynamic images and maps will update shortly after 11 a.m. daily and will not work if your browser is in compatibility mode.