Month: April 2021

The Crookston School Board met on Monday evening in the Crookston High School Choir/Orchestra room.  The meeting recap is below – 

WEIGHT ROOM THANK YOU’S
The meeting started with several guests thanking the board for their investment in the locker room with new equipment and new paint on the walls.  Nate Lubarski (pictured right) works with the kids in the mornings before school.  He said the new weight room means a lot to the student-athletes. “The number of kids using the weight room on a consistent basis has increased over the past several months.  We look forward to carrying that into the summer and every season to follow,” said Lubarski. “They are learning the importance of preparing themselves physically for the sports they play, working on mental toughness, and building a strong sense of teamwork and camaraderie.  The list of attendees has grown to over 50 in the morning, that have been to the weight room at least once.  We consistently have between 36 to 40 kids each morning during my time slot.”

Lubarski added that the new equipment is the reason why people are showing up. “It has provided the students the proper techniques to build strength through our physical education program,” said Lubarski. “This new equipment has the capability to touch all of our students in some way.”

Crookston High School sophomore Libby Salentine also thanked the board. “The weight room is a huge deal for us because, at practice, you get stronger, but the extra time you put in really helps,” said Salentine. “With the new equipment, it is really easy, and having the ability to lift with a lot of help of a lot of people, it is really nice to be able to use.”

Jenna Coauette also thanked the board. “I use the weight room five days a week,” said Coauette. “I am looking forward to advancing my athletic career starting in the weight room….so thank you.”

Crookston High School Activities Director Greg Garmen also thanked the board for their investment in the weight room on behalf of the athletic department.  “One of the kids said what we had compared to what we used to have are night and day,” said Garmen. “Nate Lubarski is helping us, especially with the younger kids.  Nate Rooney also helps with the wrestlers and some other kids at 6:00 a.m., and it is wonderful to see.”

Garmen added the kids are having fun. “Kids are having fun in the weight room, and some of the coaches are getting their teams in there before or after practice,” said Garmen. “As the athletic representative, I thank you.”

TENNIS COURT FENCE REPAIR AND COURT RESURFACING
The fencing around the Crookston High School tennis courts was damaged in high winds last summer, and the district is looking at fixing the fencing.  The fencing will also be changed as the fencing in the middle of the courts will be taken out to create a big open area to put bleachers, similar to Alexandria High School’s setup (pictured right).  The fencing would be covered by insurance, minus a $10,000 deductible, and would cost around $39,925.  But board member Mike Theis asked why they wouldn’t look at going with the higher bid of over $80,000 for all new fencing and some areas reinforced.  The rest of the board agreed to look into it if the insurance premiums wouldn’t be affected.  Superintendent Jeremy Olson will look into it.

The Crookston High School tennis courts also need to be resurfaced, and the board approved the quote from JB Surfaces for $81,110, including armor crack repair.  The courts will look slightly different with a blue playing area and grey around the playing area instead of the green they currently have.  JB Surfaces is the same company working on the Highland (Ray Eckland complex) courts.  “We want to take care of our facilities,” said Superintendent Olson. “We need to be good stewards of what we have been given, so we will resurface the court and take care of the fencing that was damaged during a storm.”

OLD BUS GARAGE FUEL TANK REMOVAL
The board approved a bid from Valley Petroleum to take out the old bus garage fuel tank.  The bid was $1,500 less than the other bid.  Superintendent Olson warned the cost could go up if they find out the old tank leaked and contaminated the ground around it.  The district had a choice of removing the tank or fill it with sand, and the board thought it would be best to remove the tank. “The prudent long-term fix was to remove it,” said Superintendent Olson. “Then you want have unforeseen issued with it down the road if we remove it now.”

HIGH SCHOOL AND HIGHLAND PARKING LOT SEAL COAT
The board approved a bid for seal coating the Crookston High School and Highland Elementary School parking lots.  They approved the bid of $51,000 for the high school and $26,000 for Highland School from Asphalt Preservation Company.  They will chip seal, which will cost more but save the district money in the long run with a better product.  “It is hard to convince me to go the more expensive route, but when we talked about it internally, it was better to go this route,” said Superintendent Olson. “Due to the wear coat, the projective life span, going this direction was the better solution.”

EFIS REPAIR AT THE HIGH SCHOOL
The board approved a $9,530 bid from Sig Olson and Sons of Moorhead to fix the EFIS (foam insulation with stucco on it instead of brick) at the high school.  It is the same company that will be working at RiverView Health this summer.  “We are hiring a company to come in and repair it, so it isn’t leaking water,” said Superintendent Olson.

All of the projects will be funded with Long Term Facilities Maintenance dollars. “They are dollars the state gives the district to help with building maintenance,” said Superintendent Olson. “It is for repairing roofs, heat pumps, and other big-ticket items.”

MISC ITEMS
The board accepted donations from the Crookston Baseball Association for $3,000 to pay for assistant coaches and from Titan Machinery for $500 for the Ag program.

The board approved employment with Nicole Martinez as High School Principal.  They accepted the resignation of Tim Moe as Head Girls Hockey Coach, Tayler Christenson as Assistant Volleyball Coach, Marlys Plencner as an aide at Washington Elementary School (WES), Sandy Seregin as a paraprofessional at Highland Elementary School (HES), the resignation of Janelle Swanson as business education teacher.
The board also approved the hire of Heidi Achartz as an elementary music teacher.

Crookston High School Principal Eric Bubna thanked Linda Morgan for her hard work with prom and the parent group for their work with the after-prom party. 

Superintendent Olson reminded everyone of the bus garage open house on Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.

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The Crookston City Council met on Monday approving the bills and disbursements of $387,902.99 and approving the April 12 meeting minutes.

The City Council unanimously passed a resolution ordering plans and specifications for the Central Park RV Campground. Councilman Tom Vedbraaten expressed concern that residents of Crookston weren’t sold on the idea of the campground. “As I talk to the public when I’m in stores or gas stations I haven’t really heard from the public that this is a good idea,” said Vedbraaten. “I’ve heard some of the council people think this is a good thing to do. But I think this is a lot of money for something I don’t think the public is sold on.”

Mayor Dale Stainbrook said that naysayers to a previous campground plan for Crookston wanted it to be put in Central Park. “Well, you know, years ago we had a chance to put an RV park in our city,” said Stainbrook. “It would’ve been privately owned, and it went south. Everybody, the naysayers, that did not want it at Castle Park said why not Central Park. That’s all I heard – put it in Central Park. So, here we are back to the drawing board.”

It was indicated that several cities in the Red Lake River Corridor Group – Thief River Falls, St. Hilaire, Red Lake Falls, Fisher, and East Grand Forks – could be negatively impacted if Crookston failed to follow through on a grant it previously accepted. Parks and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle said he didn’t believe Greater Minnesota Parks and Trails, who provided the grant would be likely to fund further projects along the corridor if Crookston backed out. Crookston City Administrator Amy Finch said he was uncertain how a decision by Crookston not to build the RV campground would impact the other communities. “There are communities that submitted projects along with this,” said Finch. “It is one piece of a larger grant that Crookston is a recipient of. As part of that, we will have some matching dollars that are budgeted to upgrade our bathhouse facility. Make it safer, easier to use, and more amenities for people that are staying there. Yes, it could impact other people and their projects they submitted for. I would have to get some other information from the grant administrator on how that would look if the City Council decided at some point not to move forward with the project.”

The City of Crookston has until June of 2022 to complete a campground before the funding expires. Councilman Steve Erickson asked if that could be extended due to the high cost of construction related to COVID-19. Erickson said his concern is that the city doesn’t end up with a lesser campground because of current inflated costs. “We just went through that with the Ag Innovation Center,” said Erickson. “They have to downsize a little bit. My concern was what are we going to get for our investment in this. After COVID the cost of different things has gone up tremendously. Getting the ball rolling on this is what we have to do but at the end of the day, I hope we get a bang for our buck doing this project.”

Finch said seeking an extension was a valid question given the other community projects that have shown significant impact from inflated construction costs due to COVID. “I think that is a very valid question,” said Finch. “We do have other concerns on other projects in our community that are either stalled or scaling back due to cost of materials. A good question to ask. I don’t know the answer to if that’s allowed or not. We do have until next summer, June 2022, to have construction complete. So, how those prices will impact actually impact this project are unknown at this time. The plans and specs will really help us nail down where we can be when we go out to bid. As I stated tonight, we will always reserve the right to protect the city to reject any and all bids. If someone bids on the project and it comes in completely outside of the grant budget that’s something we’d have to come back to look at. That means either scaling the project back, phasing the project, or discussing whether to do the project. We needed the plans or specs to get to that point and move forward with some of those decisions.”

Following a public hearing at which no one spoke, the Council unanimously passed an annual resolution approving the Wellhead Protection Plan. Another resolution authorizing acceptance of a Coronavirus Grant for the Airport was also approved. “We got notified there is an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) grant for coronavirus response and relief that our airport is eligible for, for $13,000,” said Finch. “Our City Attorney and Airport Consultant (SEH) has reviewed it, staff recommends, and it was approved tonight to accept the grant to help support the operations of our airport. We’re trying to take advantage of any grant opportunities coming out and watching all of the relief funds. This happened to come up a few weeks ago and after vetting it out felt like we had to bring it forward.”

The City Council had several presentations, including two proclamations declaring April as National Volunteer Month and declaring May 9-15 National Skilled Nursing Care Week. Crookston Public Library Director Chris Boike gave a presentation on the library. Boike said they will be keeping many of the changes the library had made, such as the option for curbside pickup, post-COVID as things return to normal. Boike’s presentation starts at the 6:20 mark in the video below.

City Attorney Corky Reynolds also made a presentation on the legality of banners and flags within the city in response to a number of complaints to City Hall, Councilmembers, and the City Attorney’s office. Reynolds said in broad terms that signs which have to be read can’t be legally addressed due to free speech rulings by both the U.S. and Minnesota Supreme Courts, but signs that interfere with traffic or resemble government signs may be regulated. “In our ordinance, it says, ‘it is not the purpose or intent of a sign ordinance to regulate the message displayed on a sign – free speech, expressions of opinion with which we may not all totally agree’ -,” said Reynolds. “But again, keep in mind, if you have to read that sign in order to make a judgment of whether it is acceptable it’s probably not something that can be addressed legally. What our ordinance anticipates, what the police department has observed, and what we work with is, ‘signs by reason of position, shape, color, or illumination which interfere with traffic, traffic signals, or traffic signs are not permitted.’ Signs that resemble any official marker, state or federal erected by a government, or display words as stop or danger and are not placed by a government agency are not allowed within the City of Crookston.”

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The Crookston High School held its 13th Annual Triple-A Senior Recognition Night on Monday, April 26 to honor its senior Student-Athletes in Academics, Arts, and Athletics. The banquet was sponsored by the Crookston Pirate Fine Arts Boosters, Crookston Kiwanis, Crookston Noon Day Lions, and the Crookston Rotary Clubs.

Academic Awards:
Dr. Russel O. and Inez Sather Scholarship: Zach Brown, Andrew MacGregor, Jacob Miller

Donnie Lauf Memorial Scholarship: Jasmine Haglund

Crookston Area Chamber of Commerce: Amber Cymbaluk

Larsen Achievement Award: Not presented at the banquet this year

CHS Scholarship: Lucas Winger

Franz Memorial Award: Danielle Haake

Academic Achievement (Summa Cum Laude, Trophies): Gavin Anderson, Emma Borowicz, Emily Funk, Danielle Haake, Karsten Isaacson, Joslynn Leach, Gabriel Montieth, Victoria Proulx, Sophia Rezac, Easton Tangquist, Ella Weber, Anna Wiersma

Arts, including Music Awards:
Music Department Senior Awards:

T.W. Thorson Memorial Award: Linnea French, Ella Weber

John P. Sousa Awards: Emma Boll

Mari Hussey Award: Emily Funk

Ronald Carey Award: Victoria Proulx

Merle Miller String Scholarship: Sophia Rezac

Outstanding Thespian Award: Victoria Proulx

Most Dedicated Thespian Award: Sophia Rezac

Music Above and Beyond Awards: Emma Boll, Linnea French, Emily Funk, Karsten Isaacson, Andrew MacGregor, Gabriel Montieth, Victoria Proulx, Sophia Rezac, Ella Weber, Anke Wiersma

Ramona Unke Scholarship: Sophia Rezac

Honors & Awards
Noon Day Lions/Brock Olson Award: Gabriel Montieth, Easton Tangquist

Noon Day Lions and CHS LEO Club MaryAnn Odland Community Service Award – Emily Funk, Sophia Rezac

Meredith Reynolds Memorial Scholarship: Anke Wiersma

Bremer Community Service Award: Victoria Proulx, Ella Weber

Crookston Rotary Club Community Service Scholarship in honor of Allen Pederson – Emma Boll

Senior Honor Awards: Victoria Proulx, Gabriel Montieth

American Legion Citizenship Award: Emma Borowicz, Karsten Isaacson

Crookston American Legion Auxiliary Scholarship: Sophia Rezac

Walt Keller Memorial Scholarship: MacKenze Epema, Sophia Rezac

CHS Citizenship Award: Emily Funk, Gabriel Montieth

Cheryl Steinbrink Healthcare Scholarship: Emma Borowicz

Tracy Lynn Altringer Scholarship: Victoria Proulx

Bob and Ella Q. Strand Scholarship: Anke Wiersma

June Shaver Healthcare Scholarship: Emma Borowicz, MacKenze Epema, Emily Funk, Victoria Proulx, Easton Tangquist, Catherine Tiedemann, Cameron Weiland.

FOR THE ATHLETIC AWARD WINNERS, CLICK HERE

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Motorists traveling in northwest Minnesota can expect short-term delays on the Sorlie Bridge in East Grand Forks beginning at 8:00 a.m. on April 28, as MnDOT crews begin annual maintenance work. Maintenance work will take place on Demers Avenue from 3rd Avenue NW in East Grand Forks, MN to North 3rd Street in Grand Forks, ND.  Motorists are advised to use caution as traffic will be reduced to a single lane controlled by automated traffic lights. The work is expected to be completed by 4:30 p.m. on April 28.

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The United Way of Crookston is pleased to announce the hiring of Executive Director Elizabeth (Libby) Boucher. 

Libby has over 14 years of experience in customer relations and management, most recently as the General Manager of Casey’s General Store in Crookston.  Libby graduated from high school in St. Paul and attended Drake University in Des Moines with a major in Mass Communications and a minor in English Literature.

Libby comes with nonprofit and volunteer experience with the Polk County Humane Society, Fisher Community Theater, Crookston Ox Cart Days, and as a board member of the Crookston Visitors Bureau. Libby enjoys writing and reading in her off time, she and husband Dan have two grown sons, Andrew and Charlie.

“The United Way of Crookston has a special place in my heart and I am excited to be part of such a vital organization in our community”, Boucher said.  “I am honored to continue to further the mission of the United Way by connecting people in need to the many services offered by the agencies we partner with. I will do my very best to keep the momentum of this 35-year organization going and know I have big shoes to fill with retiring Executive Director, Lori Wagner.”

Libby will begin as the Executive Director on Monday, May 10th, and will work from the United Way office located in the Valley Technology Park building. 

The Crookston United Way provides financial resources to 20 local nonprofit agencies and programs that support health, education, and financial stability.

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