Crookston City Council met Monday, May 19, at 5:30 p.m. at the Crookston City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting started out with a Mayoral Proclamation declaring May 2025 Community Action Month in recognition of the hard work and dedication of the Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc., as well as all Minnesota Community Action agencies. Jason Carlson, CEO of Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc., was on hand to receive the signed document from Mayor Dale Stainbrook.
Three Rivers Housing gave a presentation regarding the old Tri-Valley building at 102 North Broadway. The reuse analysis looked at ways to reuse the site in the future. Some options presented were for a daycare (pod) facility, a restaurant, as well as for housing. There was some good information given in the presentation, and all options talked about were with the building demolished, not retrofitted. The council seemed responsive to some of the ideas, but most of the plans were leaving the building in place until all funding was in hand, and the schedule to get the funding meant the building would stay in place for a couple more years. The council seemed to be leaning towards having the building torn down sooner rather than later. There will be more to come on this in the future.
The consent agenda which was approved by the council saw the approval of the proposed City Council Minutes from May 5, 2025, approval of City of Crookston Bills and Disbursement for $600,735.84, approval of the license renewals for 2025 Cement Mason for Palmer Masonry and Concrete, and the acceptance of a donation for the Crookston Sports Center in the amount of $53,739.75 from The Crookston Area Community Fund for new turf at the Crookston Sports Center.
There was a public hearing on “Regulations of Cannabis Businesses” in the City of Crookston. Residents had an opportunity to express any opinions or concerns they may have on the subject. “There was one gentleman who came up to speak against having cannabis,” says City Administrator Jeff Shoobridge. “However, unfortunately, we are mandated by the state legislature to have at least one retail location, so the city will be following the state statute.”
On the regular agenda for Monday’s meeting was a resolution regarding the approval of the non-commercial hangar lot lease for RZS Enterprises, Inc. at the Crookston Municipal Airport. “We officially signed off on the lease tonight,” says Shoobridge. “This will allow the individual to build the hangar. The city still owns the land. However, the hangar will be privately owned on a land lease.” The council unanimously approved the lease with RZS Enterprises, Inc.
The second item was seeking approval for Total Lawn Care and Landscaping, an independent contractor, to take care of Crookston’s nuisance mowing. “Whenever someone calls in, their neighbor, their grass is over the limit, and getting unseemly,” says Shoobridge. “Total Lawn Care and Landscaping, they will be taking care of the mowing for the city, and then any bills that go out, any fines that go out, reimburses that too. It provides the city a little bit more flexibility in operations and frees up our parks people to make sure that our facilities are maintained.” The council approved unanimously of the contract with Total Lawn Care and Landscaping to take care of Crookston’s nuisance mowing.
Next on the agenda, the council was asked to approve Parks and Recreation repairing the cooling tower at the Crookston Sports Center. The leak was found a few months ago, and now that they are not in use, this is the time to make the repair. “There is a cooling tower, it has to do with the compressors and the glycol system for the hockey floors,” says Shoobridge. “We had identified some time ago that it needed maintenance, as it leaks. As we brought someone in to look at it, it was a replacement item that needed to take place, so we will be moving forward with that repair and be ready for next season.” This repair is within the budgeted amount for equipment maintenance for the facility.” The council unanimously approved having the cooling tower fixed at the Crookston Sports Center.
The last item on the agenda was a late addition added during the agenda approval. The item was for discussion regarding pool repairs at the Crookston Community Pool. Lundseth was recently in to fix the heat exchanger, and it was discovered that the control box and circuit board for the heating system were no longer functioning. With this news, the council needed to discuss how to go forward. “They say lightning doesn’t strike twice, but it seems so far in the last six weeks we have had several instances with pieces of equipment over at the pool,” says Shoobridge. “The council did give consensus to move forward to get the parts available to get through.”
Where does this leave the city budget-wise regarding the pool? “The accumulation of the repairs we have had to do with equipment has exceeded the line item budget for that equipment,” says Shoobridge. “So, we needed council approval to move some of the money, move forward, and get direction because we are approaching our annual budget limits for maintenance, both in the building and for the equipment.” Money can be moved between the pool’s maintenance and building funds, but the city is reaching the combined limit, and it’s not quite halfway through the year at this point. The council felt strongly about getting the pool back up and running, as there are multiple swim lesson classes already filled up that start on June 2. With the anticipated repairs coming to the Control Box and Circuit Board, the combined remaining budgeted funds for the pool will sit right around $3,000 for the remainder of 2025.
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