City to boost B3 bottom line by $50K Mike Christopherson Crookston Times With a balance down to $4,500 and currently four applications for grants to be considered, the Crookston Housing & Economic Development Authority’s (CHEDA) Building Better Business (B3) initiative needs an influx of cash in order to continue. After much discussion, the Crookston City Council this week, citing the program’s benefit to the local business community since its inception in early 2019, agreed to take $50,000 from general fund undesignated reserve dollars to replenish the B3 budget. Money from the City helped launch the B3 program, and it was pretty slow-going at first, but as word spread about the program’s benefits, more local businesses have been requesting grants over the past year or so. In all, a dozen businesses have been granted funds for projects large and small, all of which require an investment of their own money as well. B3 dollars have helped fund projects relating to new and improved signage, new equipment, a new parking lot and even a new furnace.