The RRRC Board of Directors held a regularly meeting on Wednesday, February 11, at The Reyleck in Grafton.
Those in attendance included:
- Board members: Amy Suda, Barry Wilfahrt, Amie Vasichek, Cameron Swenson, Lizzie Crowston, Kimberly Hagen, and Scot Becker.
- Staff: Dawn Mandt, Brenda Baumann, Lori Estad, Angelle French, Kristi Kasprick, Lisa Rotvold
- RRRC Consultants on The Reyleck: Brenda Baumann, Envision Consulting; and Chad Ruzicka.
- Others in attendance: Austin Foss, ICON Architects; and Tyler Blaine, MBA Development.
The Board of Directors:
- Discussed a three-year request for proposals for accounting services due to the sudden passing of their long-time accountant, Richard Mortenson
- Approved $8,056 in matching funds for regional Real. Good. Northeast North Dakota workforce grant proposal
- Accepted a $146,713 grant from the ND Department of Commerce: Regional Workforce Impact Program that will be matched with $36,678 from the Red River Community Housing Development Organization to contract with a housing development project manager for the next 12 to 18 months to implement at least 16 new single-family homes through the SPARK Build Initiative. Homes are planned to be built in Michigan, Hoople, Lakota, and Larimore with the potential of at least five additional communities which are currently working on new housing development plans.
- Received updates on new housing development plans and on the Region 4 $1.2 million housing rehabilitation program that is getting underway.
- Approved renewal of the EDA-funded Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Plan.
- Authorized the Executive Director to execute grant application documents for the $210,000 three-year U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration Partners in Planning Program which is matched with county contributions in the region. This program provides support staff to develop and implement the Region 4 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy.
- Approved the defederalization of two EDA-funded business RLF programs, the Progress Fund and Red River Revolving Loan Fund, that were created in the 1990s and enabling the use of these funds for other federally qualified economic development purposes.
- Discussed the draft agenda for the 2026 State of Region 4 event. The event will be held on April 22, 2026, at the Minto Community Center. The theme is: Building Tomorrow Together.
- Discussed the $1 billion ND Rural Health Transformation Initiative. This five-year, $200 million/year program is aimed to strengthen and stabilize rural workforce, bring high quality healthcare closer to home, connect tech, data, and confront immediate threats to rural health while building lasting sustainability.
- Discussed the ND Rural Catalyst Grant Program which allocated $2.5 million to community and economic development projects in communities with populations under 4,500 across the state. The RRRC appointed Barry Wilfahrt to serve on behalf of Region 4 and District 19 Sen. Janne Myrdal served on behalf of the legislative rural caucus.
- Approved the Guaranteed Maximum Price of $2,489,610 from MBA Development of Fargo for the construction of The Reyleck. Also approved the use of the defederalized RLF funds to be used as interim financing during the construction period while awaiting grant reimbursements.
- Received written reports from all staff.