Newly-elected Fargo mayor will be first to take on role fulltime

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — The city of Fargo will soon be welcoming a new mayor to the job. And starting this year, the position itself will be a bit different.

“This will be a full-time position for the mayor going forward. So the mayor that is elected today, as well as the mayor elected in the future, he or she will be a full-time mayor, and they will be provided compensation and its commensurate with 40 hours of work,” said Michael Redlinger, City Administrator.

According to Redlinger, city staff have been discussing changing the mayoral position from part-time to full-time for the past few years. And this year, city commissioners were able to adjust the city budget to be able to make that happen.

“Mayor Mahoney has really been effectively a full-time mayor already. He’s been somebody that’s been out there in the public and he’s also been here very regularly at city hall putting in those hours. So in that regard, there won’t be a lot of change, a lot of difference there but I think the bigger change will be we’ll just have a new person sitting in that role and maybe completely different expectations,” said Redlinger.

The newly elected mayor will be undertaking projects such as the water supply project, flood diversion, and the convention center. But Redlinger believes whoever takes the role will be able to handle the work.

“We look forward to supporting them, really being there for them, and making sure that as a staff team and our executive leadership, that we do everything that we can on day one, July one, they’re ready to go and they feel prepared,” said Redlinger.