Documents: City Officials Waived Off Private Buyers Since the controversy over the Bismarck Public Health Building began, city officials have long sa

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Documents: City Officials Waived Off Private Buyers

Since the controversy over the Bismarck Public Health Building began, city officials have long said the only offer they received was the University of Mary offer. This is not true - the city discouraged one interested buyer in the property by trying to dictate how the property would be used.

June 9th, 2016

After yesterday's bombshell that City Commissioner Parrell Grossman's claims about the building having dangerous levels of mold were proven entirely false we now know that the city actively pushed back against other offers.

Today, using the Freedom Of Information Act, we now know that there were other private buyers interested in buying the property - but city officials discouraged that pursuit by saying the city wanted to have specific control over how the land would be used.

According to an email exchange between Keith Hunke and a local real estate agent (representing a separate potential buyer), the city was not very interested in selling the property for a profit to taxpayers - rather they wanted the property to be used as part of the Five South project. which was another massive corporate welfare giveaway.

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According to a September 30th, 2015 email, now city administrator Keith Hunke told a local realtor (representing a separate interested buyer) that the city wanted the property to be used in conjunction with the Five South project.

This explains why the was no real effort to market the building to anyone else - the city had a buyer and purpose in mind - and protecting the taxpayers of Bismarck were never part of the equation.

The city of Bismarck, led by Mayor Mike Seminary and Commissioner Parrell Grossman wanted this publicly owned property to end up as part of the Five South project - regardless of the fact it was going to be a cash loss to the city, and a paper loss as far as the real value of the property.

This sale was part of an agenda rather than a financial plan.

The Bismarck City Commission thinks it is an investment firm, using public dollars to help well connected political interests do what they want without having to raise the funds and pay a fair market price.

The Bismarck City Commission is horrible at investing because they use your money like monopoly money.

With fake excuses being made to justify the sale being proven false THIS WEEK, Bismarck taxpayers and voters need to wonder what their elected officials are really doing. Because it is not standing up for the public's interests.

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-Dustin Gawrylow, Managing Director

North Dakota Watchdog Network

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