Mayor opens discussion on future Grow Vergas organization

By Robert Williams

Editor

The Vergas Economic Development Authority (EDA) / Housing Redevelopment Authority (HRA) held its annual meeting at the Vergas Event Center on Wednesday, May 7. 

President DuWayne Ditterich opened the event with a review from May 2024 to April 2025, noting the biggest accomplishment of the year was the sale and ongoing development of the Sunny Oaks development.

Of the 11 lots, three were given to Otter Tail County for future senior housing development, six were sold with construction having begun and two lots remain for sale.

The EDA/HRA has also been searching outlying properties in Vergas that will potentially be for sale in order to help expand the town.

“One of our biggest problems in Vergas, which is also why people want to be here, we have a lot of lakes, hills and rocks,” said Ditterich. “The bad thing is when you want to do commercial, real estate, apartment developments it makes it hard to find land.”

Ditterich gave an open invitation to landowners within a two- mile radius of downtown that would be willing to sell to contact the EDA/HRA.

“I think they would have an opportunity to sell that quite easily,” he said. “Vergas is a place that people want to be right now and I think it’s a place that people are going to continue to want to be a part of. It’s a great problem to have.”

Ditterich also highlighted the city’s commercial rehabilitation grant program. The EDA/HRA has $50,000 in grant money available to local businesses to use for exterior and facade updates.

In November of 2024, the Vergas HRA received $25,000 in donations and that amount was doubled by a matching grant from the county. Most of those donations came from Vergas State Bank and Community and Economic Development Associates (CEDA).

A maximum of $5,000 is available per project.

“We still have a lot of money available for that, so if anybody knows any businesses in town that are interested in a grant for upgrades or signage please get a hold of somebody at the EDA board.

CEDA

Grant funding allowed the EDA/HRA to hire Jordan Grossman of CEDA to work as an economic development consultant over the past year. Grossman has since been promoted and will be replaced this year by Representative Madison Petrick, who was the meeting’s second speaker.

The EDA/HRA has signed a two-year commitment with CEDA.

Petrick gave a brief overview of CEDA, a 40-year-old company that specialized in community support, grant writing, strategic planning and housing studies.

“We have team members that have really done it all,” Petrick said.

CEDA focuses on towns below 15,000 in population and has expanded outside of Minnesota in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Grossman’s work with Vergas was done under the CEDA Rural Capacity Program, specifically designed for towns below a population of 3,000. The EDA/HRA is now transitioning to a full contract with CEDA after funds were contributed to continue the partnership by both the city council and the EDA/HRA board.

“One of my big focuses will be daycare,” Petrick said.

She then announced that a local church has expressed interest in starting a daycare.

“They are very excited about the opportunity and the space they have really does look feasible,” Petrick said.

The project has moved to the next step, creating a work plan to proceed and moving forward.

“Those were really good first steps and we’ll continue to have that conversation with them and update as we can,” Petrick said.

As a contingency, Petrick did tour other possible daycare spots in town.

Grow Vergas

Mayor Dwight Lundgren opened his presentation discussing a future Grow Vergas Association, a for-profit organization that will not be involved with the city. It will consist of a group of citizens and business owners concentrating on future growth.

“It’s not part of the city government, it’s compiled of citizens who want to help the city grow,” Lundgren said.

Memberships will be offered as shares, but a price has not been set.

“Every share has a vote in the Grow Vergas program,” he said.

The board will consist of 3-5 members.

The program is based on Grow Perham, a Minnesota Housing Partnership (MHP).

“We’ll be looking at housing of all sorts,” said Lundgren. “We’re trying to grow the city, trying to make things better. We’re trying to moderate so we don’t end up like some other cities with some very undesirable situations in the towns. We want to stay away from that.”

Grossman confirmed with Mayor Lundgren that the philosophy behind the program is people who put money in would eventually profit from future sales. Grow Perham will be a corporation and members its shareholders.

“They can make money off it and see how it is helping the area,” said Lundgren. “It won’t only help Vergas; it will help the surrounding area also.”

Ditterich discussed how Grow Vergas can operate with banks to have leverage when making purchases with financing, basically stating banks would be willing to help the corporation with purchases upon loan qualification, but would be more strict in loaning money for people to purchase shares.

According to his research, Ditterich explained that single-family housing was most commonly mentioned by area residents, along with senior and multi-family housing…and access to commercial space.

“Everything we talk about is land-based and it’s our problem in Vergas again,” Ditterich said. “The No. 1 thing that people wanted to invest in is housing.”

Ditterich invited residents to discuss this topic further with Mayor Lundgren or himself.

SBDC

The final topic of the event was an upcoming SBDC Rural Edge five-week training program that refers to the specialized training and support provided by (SBDCs) to businesses, especially those located in rural areas, focusing on unique challenges and opportunities in these communities.

SBDCs provide a vital resource for rural entrepreneurs, offering expertise and support to help them develop business plans, access funding, and navigate regulatory requirements.

Meeting

The EDA/HRA also held a shortened, regular monthly meeting. The first action item was a commercial rehabilitation grant request of $5,000 from Jesus Little Lambs to complete an asphalt paving of their parking lot was officially declined due to its non-profit status. According to the grant guidelines, non-profit organizations do not qualify for the grant.

The second action item was changing the wording of the grant by removing the word “downtown” and replacing it with “within (C-1) zoning” for describing which businesses are eligible for the grant. The change was made to avoid any ambiguity in determining what is “downtown Vergas.”