Sara Stadem | Editor
The community of Crooks continues to see changes as the community continues to grow, bringing in more homes, commercial property, school and more, according to Mayor Butch Oseby.
Van Buskirk Construction has started the first stage of moving dirt for the Heritage Pond housing development, according to Mayor Oseby. This will bring in approximately 67 lots. Mayor Oseby explained the next step is working with the contractor for the water and sewer in the streets to get everything up and running. Realistically, Mayor Oseby explained, not knowing when the water and sewer project will be complete, getting a home built in this new area might take place next year.
The developer that owns the land around the new school, which is approximately 50 acres, will also get under way as soon as possible which will happen later this year, according to Mayor Oseby. “That developer will start moving dirt once the crops are out this fall,” Mayor Oseby said. He continued, “So, that development will really be early this spring with everything going on.”
Mayor Oseby also explained it’s been decided to delay the opening of the Early Learning Center in Crooks for one more year. This is in order for the additional rooms to be built for the Junior Kindergarten through fourth grades with the new bond pass.
When asked what he thought of the bond passing, Mayor Oseby said, “For me, I had to ask myself, should I do no or should I do yes. My opinion was we waited so long…. “He continued, “This has gone on so long, whether this was a good bet or right for the pocket book, this was based on we have to do something now to help this out.”
“I think this is good for the community as we get the add on up to the fourth grade and it’s a great thing for the whole district. I don’t know what the right decision is or the best decision is but I think it was a decision that had to be done,” Mayor Oseby said. He concluded, “I think the Task Force did so much work on this. It was unanimous as to what was brought to the school board so with all of that, I voted yes.”
The other improvement the city of Crooks will be seeing is on the flag football field. Mayor Oseby explained at the last City Council meeting, the flag football committee was there to ask for help to get the sprinkler system done. “We okayed to go ahead to put a sprinkler system in our flag football fields. We redid the fields last fall with a bunch of volunteer work. That committee was there to ask for help with the rest of it now,” Mayor Oseby said. He continued, “It’s kind of a regional thing we have going on and we want to keep what we have going. We want to keep the fields nice. It was a unanimous decision by the council to pay for the sprinklers.”
The sprinklers are scheduled to be done prior to the ground freezing after the Superbowl which is scheduled for the last Saturday of September.
Mayor Oseby concluded, “If you haven’t made it out for games on Saturday, you really should go. It’s quite the day. The parking lot is full by 9 am and stays that way all day. They have built quite the program out there.”