Piepkorn Out as Fargo Deputy Mayor, Preston Voted In, Against The Mayor’s Wishes

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR)– Fargo has a new deputy mayor, against the wishes of Mayor Tim Mahoney.

Commissioners first voted on a motion put forth by John Strand and Arlette Preston to rescind Dave Piepkorn as deputy mayor for controversial comments he has made recently.

That included Piepkorn’s issues with the police chief and calling out two drunk Native American’s outside his downtown building.

The vote was 3-2, with Mahoney and Piepkorn voting against the motion.

Strand then put forth Preston as deputy mayor, with Piepkorn seconding the motion.

But it didn’t sit well with the mayor, who defeated Preston for the top job back in June.

“My concern is that Arlette Preston has her own agenda and she would like to move forward to her own agenda, which is not in concert with the mayor,” said Mahonry.

“So my concern when you do that is that you are electing more of a dysfunctional commission.”

Preston responded, “We need to have a retreat, we need to understand what our roles are and how we can get questions answered as well as clarify the Code of Conduct.”

The vote to approve Preston as the deputy mayor was 4-1, with Mahoney voting “no”.

She is in her third term on the commission after having previously served two terms in the 1990’s.

Piepkorn did not defend his actions during the discussion.