Fergus Falls, MN – Greater Fergus Falls has paused activity while the City Council finds its new path forward for economic development.
City Council Member and member of the Board of Directors for Greater Fergus Falls Scott Rachels says the organization is stepping back while the Council chooses their vision for economic development. He stated in an interview with Dave Bishop, “We’ve been meeting over the last six weeks about what direction we should go and where we should be going and we all kind of decided this is where we need to be, to find out where the Council’s going to go. The Council funded us in their budget last December, but there’s a few people on the Council that just aren’t comfortable with Greater Fergus Falls and maybe want to look a different direction. Instead of fighting with them, they just said let’s just step back, not dissolve, not go away, just step back and kind of wait and see where the Council is going to go.”
During a work session on Wednesday, Mayor Anthony Hicks addressed Greater Fergus Falls’ self-suspension of activities and the accompanying press release, saying, “The consensus of the Council is that without any employees within the organization, how do they intend to function? The City, overtime, has been a more than generous supporter of the organization, helping with the initial seed money to get the organization operational. The City is pro-economic development and would definitely like to see more activity, but progress has been difficult and slow. I believe we need a common vision on how we pursue development. Over the course of the next few weeks, we can help shape and define the course we take with input from multiple sources.”
The Council’s work session on Wednesday and the session scheduled for March 26th are part of the Council’s efforts to find a new path forward for economic development in the city.
