The Ward County Commission met in special session Wednesday, Oct. 22, to approve the agreement and also a partial agreement on Project BEE’s building across the street.

Commission Chairman John Fjeldahl said the negotiated settlement avoided a sheriff’s auction that had been scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 15.

The county had granted Project BEE $1,345,756 from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies received from the federal government in response to the pandemic. The money was reimbursement to go toward completion of Broadway Circle, a project of the City of Minot’s National Disaster Resilience Program. Broadway Circle includes a family homeless shelter and affordable housing and houses a food pantry.

Project BEE had taken on the subrecipient agreement with the city for Broadway Circle following the closure of Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, which originally was helping develop the site. Facing financial irregularities, Project BEE turned the project back to the city in February 2024.

Jill Schramm/MDN Project BEE’s building in downtown Minot is among property owned by the nonprofit, which faces a $1.3 million court judgment.

Ward County ordered a forensic audit of the ARPA funds after a preliminary report from Project BEE raised concern about whether the money was spent as allocated. Last December, the county sued Project BEE and received a judgment in April that ordered the nonprofit to return the ARPA funding in full.

Fjeldahl said the county presented Project BEE with an offer to accept the vacant land used as a parking lot toward the settlement, and it was agreed to. The county commission approved only a partial agreement on the nearby building at 205 3rd Ave. SE because first rights to proceeds from a sale belong to the bank that holds debt on the building. The county is unlikely to receive any money from a sale because the debt to the bank exceeds the value of the building, the county’s attorney in the case, Nici Meyer, told the commission at Wednesday’s meeting.

Project Bee remains responsible for more than $1.16 million remaining on the judgment. A spokesperson for the organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Project BEE, which provides services to homeless individuals, did not open its warming house last winter and has not announced plans to do so this winter.

The commission indicated the parking lot property, which is adjacent to an existing county parking lot, will remain in use for that purpose.

Project BEE, then the Minot YWCA, had acquired the property by donation after an apartment building on the lot was severely damaged in a fire. The building was removed for eventual new construction that never did come about.