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CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) Valley City Barnes County Director of Economic Development Jennifer Feist defended the Valley Development Corporations decision to purchase the Stan Ryan property earlier this year for .2 million dollars.
(Above photo Jennifer Feist. Photos by Steve Urness.)
Feist told commission president Eldred Knutson that even though the cost of purchasing the property was well above the market value it was instrumental in helping make all portions of the project from the relocation of the Army National Guard to the expansion of the John Deere Seeding plant possible.
Feist says the Interstate 94 Corridor project would have failed without a willing buyer and a willing seller, referring to the importance of the Stan Ryan property.
Valley City businessman Robert Drake says property values in the county will be out of whack with the sale of the $4.2 million property and other taxpayers will be stuck holding the bag to pay for it.
Barnes County Commissioner Rodger Berntson told Feist there needs to be more forthrightness informing the commission and the public about the cost of future development projects.
Valley Development Corporation Board member Paige Bjornson says the board wants to be open with the commission and the public.
Valley City resident Lloyd Nelson was disappointed with how officials handled the purchase of this property. He says it raises a number of questions.
In the end, the Barnes County Commission voted 3 to 2 to support the project by increasing their mill obligation to the Valley Development Corporation from 2 to 3 mills. Commission president Eldred Knutson and commissioner Rodger Berntson voted no.
Earlier this year the Valley Development Corporation announced a plan of how it would secure federal and local funds to help build a new Army National Guard facility east of John Deere Seeding, the expansion of the plant and a frontage road known as the Interstate 94 Corridor project near exit 294 in Valley City.