by April Scheinoha
Reporter
The City of Thief River Falls’ housing grant application is in the final home stretch. At its meeting Tuesday, Jan. 18, the Thief River Falls City Council called for a public hearing to discuss a Citizen’s Participation Plan related to an application to renovate apartment units in the city.
This step was required as part of the city’s final application for a $600,000 grant through the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Small Cities Development Program. The public hearing will be held Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.
The city has applied for the grant to renovate about 40 apartment units. In order for a property owner to be considered for the grant, the building must be at least 25 years old and contain four apartment units. City consultant Mark Borseth said there has been enough interest from property owners for this project.
If the city were approved for the $600,000 grant, the property owners would be responsible for 30% of the project cost and receive 20% in a low interest loan. The remaining 50% would be provided to the property owners in a grant. The loan and grant for each apartment unit would total $12,500.
As part of this process, the city is paying $2,500 of the $5,000 application fee. The Northwest Minnesota Multi-County Housing and Redevelopment Authority is paying the remainder.
City Council continued to move forward on crafting the city’s new strategic plan. It approved an agreement for environmental scanning with gCariveau & Associates.
gCariveau & Associates has a three-phase approach to creating the city’s strategic plan. Those phases include environmental scanning, strategic plan development, and the implementation and monitoring phase. The base plan for this three-year process was $23,750. The city approved moving forward with the base plan in October.
It was up to city leaders as to how gCariveau should handle environmental scanning. gCariveau recommended using three different approaches to accomplish enviromental scanning. It recommended stakeholder interviews with the mayor and four department leaders with the city determining which departments should be studied. With this vote Jan. 18, the council decided to move forward with this environmental scanning option at an additional cost of $12,255.
The Electric Department, Falls Liquor, and Water Systems Department (which includes water and wastewater) will be the first departments to be studied. City Administrator Angie Philipp said face-to-face interviews and Zoom director interviews will be conducted with those departments. Focus groups will be conducted with those departments and selected community members. A targeted survey will be provided to residents as well.
Council member Michele McCraw, who sits on the Administrative Services Committee, said this particular scanning option was the best option in terms of community involvement.
The next council meeting is scheduled Tuesday, Feb. 1 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.