JAMESTOWN, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The City of Jamestown met with the Frontier Village Association (FVA) Board Thursday morning to make official the transfer of property, artifacts and the lease to the city.

Jamestown City Administrator Sarah Hellekson reports that the quitclaim deed was signed by members of the FVA Board and City of Jamestown to make the transfer official.

“[This] includes buildings and anything on those blocks being signed over,” Hellekson explained. “[It] terminates the interest in the lease agreement entered with the city on July 7th, 2015.”

In the bill of sale, it’s specified that items to be transferred to the city include “various structures, equipment, antiques, artifacts, livestock, social media, and other miscellaneous items.”

“This excludes the bank or corporate books,” Hellekson explained. “[We’re] not taking accounts or any books. They also didn’t disband as an association.”

In minutes provided to the city from the FVA Board of Directors, it was reported that they had passed a resolution to authorize Tina Busche, Secretary/Treasurer to access the bank account at First Community Credit Union to pay “any and all remaining expenses of the Frontier Village Association.”

Attorney Matthew Sorensen with Vogel Law Firm in Fargo represents the FVA Board.

“The Board has not officially decided on anything nor talked about its options with any leftover funds,” he stated.

“However, due to the non-profit status of the FVA, if there is any money left over once the debts are paid, the Board would make a charitable contribution of some kind. This could be for the benefit of the Frontier Village or another charity within Jamestown. With that said, I do not expect this to be a large donation as I do believe the majority of the remaining funds will go toward outstanding bills.”

Right now, Sorensen says there are no plans for a meeting in the immediate future.

“It will take some time to finalize the FVA’s finances and we want to make sure everything is in order prior to dissolving. The FVA will also need to work with the City to ensure a smooth transition.”

Hellekson says as far as what’s next for the city, they’ll begin taking suggestions and listening to the public on where they should go from here.

“I’ll be working with Searle [Swedlund] on an action plan for the Frontier Village,” she stated.

Swedlund stated that the meeting concludes the interest of the City of Jamestown and Jamestown Tourism.

“The community clearly stated some weeks back a desire for artifacts to remain in Jamestown,” he stated. “This is the legal response that officially states that ownership will go to the City of Jamestown. How the Frontier Village Association proceeds as a 501c3 is not our concern.”

Swedlund pointed out that Tourism will work with the city to begin identifying the ownership of artifacts.

“[It was] an issue that issue that arose when the Frontier Village Association expressed interest to move the collection to Minnesota.”

The city reports that the Frontier Village has been winterized and all livestock was being cared for during the dormant months.