Flex PACE interest buydown approved for Jamestown child care business

Apr. 9—JAMESTOWN — The Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp. Board of Directors on Monday, April 8, unanimously approved a Flex PACE interest buydown for a child care business to purchase a second location.

If approved by the Jamestown City Council and Stutsman County Commission, the city's share will be more than $44,000 and the county's will be about $11,000. The total amount of the Flex PACE request is over $55,000.

Charge on Together Center LLC purchased a building at 421 1st Ave. S that formerly housed a funeral home. Owner Nicole Stevahn plans to open a second location for child care. She owns a child care facility in northeast Jamestown.

Charge on Together plans to apply for a Renaissance Zone tax exemption. If the Renaissance zone tax incentive is approved and meets the community portion of the Bank of North Dakota buydown for the Flex PACE request, then funding from JSDC would not be utilized, said Alyssa Looysen, director of business development for JSDC.

The current appraised value of the property is $360,000, and Charge on Together is looking to put about $500,000 into the project, Looysen wrote in a memo to the JSDC board.

Looysen said the additional location will open 54 more spots for children ages infant to 12 years old. She said Charge on Together will provide meals for children the business cares for as well.

Once the new location is operational, Stevahn said her northeast location will be open for infants until they are 18 months old. Once the children are 18 months old, they will be relocated to the new location.

Stevahn said the new location will provide preschool in the morning and in the afternoon along with day care. She also said the new building would later have a full commercial kitchen to feed all the children.

In other business, the JSDC board unanimously approved its budget for 2025.

The biggest increase for the 2025 budget is for legal expenses.

Corry Shevlin, CEO of JSDC, said $500 was previously budgeted for 2023 and 2024 for legal expenses. He said the $10,000 budgeted for 2025 is due to expected the legal work and reviews needed.

The amount budgeted for salaries and wages — $296,000 — will remain the same for 2025.

Shevlin said some funds are left for salaries and wages in case additional services are needed from the individual doing payroll processing.

Tory Hart, president of the JSDC board, said a 5% salary increase is slated for the JSDC employees. He also said the board would need to approve allowing the hiring of an additional person if JSDC staff felt it was needed.

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