The City of Grand Forks is Not a Bank

(KNOX)-Those loans that the City of Grand Forks approves for business to expand are not their money.

Grand Forks City Council President Dana Sande said that the city is not a bank when it comes to giving economic expansion loans to companies.

“EDA/RLF Loan is an economic development revolving loan program, started by the federal government,” Sande said. “Communities like ours get money from the federal government that we can loan out to help organizations.”

Sande said that if the City of Grand Forks did not give out the loans, it may have a detrimental impact on the city.

“It is given to us by the federal government to specifically loan out. If we don’t loan it out, the government will take it away and give it to another community so that they can loan it out, and help somebody grow in their community.”

The question came up during a meeting of the Grand Forks Growth Fund Committee, which approved loans for two companies.

One loan was approved for Red River Potatoes LLC, an affiliate of Mesa Verde Trading Company, Inc., a California-based company that specializes in providing dehydrated fruits and vegetables to customers as a pet food ingredient. Red River Potatoes will use the $270,000 EDA RLF gap equipment loan and a $151,342.60 PACE loan to expand its Grand Forks operations on Mill Road.

A FlexPACE Loan was approved by the committee for BeMobile, Inc., which is headquartered in Grand Forks and operates 68 retail cellular phone and accessories stores across seven states under operating agreements with Verizon Wireless. Operations consist primarily of the sale of Verizon Wireless phones and data plans along with other cellular-based products.

BeMobile is looking to expand their corporate office located at 2100 S. Columbia Road, roughly doubling their square footage and adding desk space, functional engagement workspaces, a meeting room, and a break room.

The company will use the FlexPACE loan of $26,728 to buy down interest on an Alerus Bank loan.

Sande said that the City of Grand Forks is not a financial institution.

“We’re not exactly being a bank. We’re propagating a federal program.”