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One more try with RTC
Published 11:04am Tuesday, August 21, 2012It’s the last chance ever all over again for the Regional Treatment Center.
On Monday night, after more than an hour of conversation, the Fergus Falls City Council narrowly approved (pending legal review) a six-month deal with global brokerage firm Colliers International to market the former state hospital complex to interested developers. It was a 5-3 vote, with aldermen Scott Rachels and Stan and Randy Synstelien casting votes against the proposal.
Under the agreement, Colliers will update the city every 30 days on the progress of marketing. Around half-way through the process (likely at the council’s Dec. 3 meeting), the council will assess the overall progress and decide whether to continue utilizing Colliers or, if there are few to no leads, proceeding with demolition of the structure.
The vote to approve prompted a cheer from the council audience, many of whom were part of the Friends of the Kirkbride group. It was a markedly different response from the crowd, which had previously emitted several disapproving rumblings and produced one speaker who angrily put out the plea for a council member recall.
The majority of the council was won over by Dan Peterson, a senior associate for Colliers who said it was very likely that the firm could generate real interest and potential developers in the six-month timeline – and perhaps much sooner.
“Those things can happen in a very quick time period,” he said.
He added that some of the steps the city has already taken, including past marketing and setting up a request for proposals process, have helped to set Colliers’ task in motion already.
Where some aldermen were uneasy, however, was the question of how long it could take to close on a deal once a potential buyer was located.
“How many deals of this magnitude have you seen done in under a year?” asked Jay Cichosz.
“From start to finish?” replied Peterson. When Cichosz responded in the affirmative, he paused briefly.
“Maybe five, six.”
While Peterson couldn’t give the council an estimation of just how long a closing might take, he noted that nothing would happen if the council didn’t try. He added that the short timeline could be portrayed positively to developers as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to have a say in the future of a historically important landmark.
His comments weren’t enough to assure Rachels, who asked several questions of Peterson throughout the night. In the end, he stated his belief that the council had already tried similar actions to no avail. He believed the council’s plan to reassess the situation in December would only push the decision back to the next council. City staff have told the council that March 2013 is the last possible time to start demolition work and complete it before the December 2014 deadline to get reimbursement from the state’s demolition grant.
“I’ve always said, this council has to decide on RTC,” Rachels remarked. When he noted his view that the current council has the best knowledge of the situation, he was met by several shouts of “no!” from the crowd.
While a few people spoke from the audience during the discussion (including mayoral candidates John Strauch and Jeffrey McSorley Jr.), the crowd reserved their biggest applause for longtime resident Denise Mauer, who was attending her first city council meeting. Mauer stated that the council was ignoring the wishes and interests of residents, citing the more than 4,200 signatures on a Friends of the Kirkbride petition drive to save the building (a few council members noted that many of the signatures were from people outside of city limits).
“It’s becoming appalling to me to live in a democracy where (at) the city, state, county and national levels, people – ordinary people like you, we think – don’t get their voices heard,” she said. “What kind of democracy is this?”
After further venting her frustration, she added, “We should unite against you. Recall you all!”
The final vote was a close one, with JoEllen Thacker, Eric Shelstad, Jim Fish and Pat Connelly indicating their yes votes ahead of time, and Rachels and Randy Synstelien indicating their no votes.
“Dan, you did your job today In my mind when you said (to) step up or step out,” said Connelly.
After the meeting, Friends of the Kirkbride organizer and RTC Marketing Task Force member Laurie Mullen said she was pleased with the decision. As part of the team who recommended Colliers, she was confident the firm could locate people interested in doing something with the building.
“We’ve covered a lot of ground today,” she said.
Toward the end of the discussion, Cichosz told the crowd that he hopes the Monday vote clarifies the council’s position.
“I hope nobody says again that we don’t care, and all we want to do is demolish everything,” he said. “If it comes December and there is nothing because people are thinking, ‘I can’t get this closed in March’ or whatever, don’t come after me personally. That’s why I voted yes, to give it one last chance.”
Denise and McSorley are not actually Friends of the Kirkbride. There presentation is not what the FOK would normally find acceptable. Rachels, and the brothers need to be removed from office with Jay a day or two behind. They have no vision of what Fergus Falls can become. Wait until its their children who leave town and don’t come back
Are we talking about the same McSorley here? Yeah, don’t even get me started on that family.
http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/2011/12/05/man-arrested-for-choking-woman/
Stay classy, Fergus Falls. You obviously have a very diverse selection of mayoral candidates, who are also looking out for your best interests when it comes to the RTC.
Gary- I can confidently state that if they vote for Mcsorley, that town will go under. I’m the victim of his crime. He doesn’t deserve that title. -Period-
This is just some form of status anyway for most people needing to prove their ‘innocence’ like the other guy with a restraining order against him. That really screams innocent, right?
I don’t know what’s wrong with Fergus falls but they should be more selective with who they let run for mayor, it’s a joke and a circus.
There is more to the story about Mr. McSorley than what has been published in the newspaper about this incident. Some people lie and manipulate to get revenge on others when they don’t get what they want. By the way, cyber stalking is a crime Ms. Lane.
Marlo- Yes, more to the story, you’re right. Let me clarify; He’s on probation for four years, went to jail for 30 days because he confessed to strangling and hitting. That’s what I left out, I apologize.
As for cyber stalking: I had no idea it was considered stalking to post on a public news article where anyone can post! Well, perhaps you’re confused?
I think it is a tragedy that our city council members are all about putting money in their pockets and not what is best for the community. They want to destroy a piece of Fergus Falls’ history to build apartment complexes and such that would line their personal pockets. What about figuring out something to do with The RTC that would put money back into the community. The RTC is a beautiful place, the layout, the building and the setting is picturesque. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. Somehow we have to preserve this piece of our history.
Fergus should just eliminate the position of Mayor, the current Mayor was complaining previously because it’s not a position that matters anyway. the Mayor reads aloud, and votes in the event of a tie vote by the council, for this the Mayor receives double the pay of an alderman.
it’s a waste of resources!
just replace the position with a new alderman position and save the difference in pay, the rest of the council can take turns reading the agenda out loud, We know very young children who do the same in grade school every year.
I hate to disagree with you, but my suggestion is to petition the charter commission, and give the mayor the power to help make decisions before the council. The position we need to eliminate is that of the City Administrator. He is the biggest problem in the city today.