Fergus Falls Mayor Entering NDA with Company Seeking to Redevelop the RTC

The Fergus Falls State Hospital. (Derek Sidian, KBRF News)

Fergus Falls, MN – At Monday night’s meeting, the Fergus Falls City Council authorized the Mayor and City Administrator to execute a non-disclosure agreement with a company looking to develop the historic Regional Treatment Center.

Community Development Manager Klara Beck says that GFY Custom Crafts LLC is interested in proposing a potential redevelopment, adaptive reuse, and/or disposition of the RTC.

In order to evaluate a potential project, both parties wish to protect confidential information exchanged during discussions. Beck says, “The City would still obviously be beholden to data practices and open meeting laws in relation to project discussions, but this is an agreement, in my mind, is essentially saying that we’re willing to play ball.”

Entering into the agreement does not obligate either party to proceed with any proposed projects. The agreement also does not prohibit the City from talking to other potential developers of the site.

One of this year’s City Council candidates, Alex Kutzke of Ward 3, took to social media after Monday’s meeting and spoke out about the agreement, saying that he believes the City should not remove the public from discussions about public property. “I’m not suggesting that this proposal would turn into something like a data center, but that is exactly what has happened to other communities where the city agreed to an NDA with developers in order to help limit the opportunity for public opposition to unwanted projects,” Kutzke said. “I am obviously not opposed to development of the RTC or any other properties in the city, and it may turn out I will be in favor of the current proposal too; but, if I were on the city council, I would have voted against the NDA on principle alone unless someone could have persuaded me otherwise. Any deal that requires secrecy with public property is not a deal worth making.”

While recapping the meeting on KBRF Tuesday morning, City Administrator Andrew Bremseth emphasized that the NDA is to ensure the development group can freely share proprietary and financial information with city leaders so that all parties can be confident in moving forward with potential projects. “I want it to be clear that the NDA is not in place to try to hide anything nefarious or to slip a data center in,” Bremseth said. “We hear examples of that across the state and across the country, and people are suspicious of that. I totally understand where they’re coming from in regards to that, but this is something completely separate from that and related to proprietary information.”

GFY Custom Crafts LLC is a general contractor based out of Davey, Minnesota, that focuses on the construction of modular homes.