City Commission - Regular Meeting

I'll call the meeting to order. We'll begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. I invite all that are able to stand and join us. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. I invite up Judge Dawson and Judge Webb, who are both here to swear in our newly elected members of the board.

You please raise your right hand and repeat after me. Aye. Josh Boucher, having been elected Mayor of the City of Fargo, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of North Dakota, and the Home Rule Charter of the City of Fargo, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties

And I will faithfully discharge the duties.

Of the office of mayor.

Of the office of mayor.

According to the best of my ability.

According to the best of my ability.

So help me God.

So help me God.

Congratulations, Mayor. Thank you, Judge. If you would raise your right hand, please, and repeat after me. I, Nikki Gullickson.

I, Nikki Gullickson.

Having been elected to the office of the Fargo City Commissioner.

Having been elected to the office of Fargo City Commissioner.

Do solemnly swear.

Do solemnly swear.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

That I will support the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution of the State of North Dakota.

The Constitution of the State of North Dakota.

And the Home Rule Charter for the City of Fargo.

And the Home Rule Charter for the City of Fargo.

And that I will faithfully discharge the duties.

And I will faithfully discharge the duties.

Of the Office of Commissioner.

Of the Office of Commissioner.

According to the best of my ability.

According to the best of my ability.

So help me God.

So help me God.

Congratulations, Commissioner.

This is going to be fun. This is going to be fun.

Are you ready, brother? Yes, sir. Raise your right hand. Repeat after me. I, Chad M. Peterson, having been elected to the office of Fargo City Commissioner, do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of North Dakota and the Home Rule Charter of the City of Fargo and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the Office of Commissioner, According to the best of my ability. According to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations, Mr. Commissioner.

Congratulations, commissioners. And with that, we'll do a roll call.

Strand?

Here.

Kernberg? Here. Peterson?

Here.

Gullickson? Here. Beauches?

Here. And for everyone's awareness, Commissioner Strand is joining us virtually, so we'll allow time for a potential delay when we do roll or need anything from him. Is there a motion to approve the order of the agenda?

So moved.

Second?

Second.

Thank you. Any discussion on the agenda? If not, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed say nay. Aye. Motion carried, thank you. Is there a motion to approve the minutes of the June 22nd, 2026 regular meeting?

So moved.

Thank you. Second? Second. Second. Thank you, any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, nay. Thank you, motion carries. Is there a motion to approve consent agendas item one through 29?

Mr. Mayor?

Mr. Peterson?

I'd like to ask respectfully to pull items 16 and 17 down, please.

Okay, items 16 and 17 will be pulled from the consent agenda. Commissioners, any others? With that, is there a motion to approve consent agenda items number one through 15, 18 through 29?

So moved.

Second?

Second.

Any discussion on the consent agenda? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Or excuse me, that's a roll call vote, isn't it? Aye.

Yes, sir.

All right. We'll do a roll call vote.

Ellison? Yes. Sternberg? Aye. Strand?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Beauchesne?

Aye.

All right, we'll move on to our regular agenda items. We have our 505 hearing. The cul-de-sac of Cottagewood First Edition, located at 3856 and 3870 47th Avenue South. Approval recommended by the Planning Commission from their June 2nd, 2026 meeting. And with that, we have Mr. Kress from the Planning Department to provide us more information.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Commissioners. Donald Kress of the Department of Planning and Development. As the Mayor has stated, our item here tonight is the cul-de-sac of Cottagewood First Edition. This property is located at the end of 47th Avenue South, just as I-29 here, and 52nd Avenue is just off the map here. There are two residential lots. It's called the cul-de-sac of Cottagewood because of the cul-de-sac here. The two lots are over in this area here. A couple different views. And then this is looking from the back, the south side. And here's the cul-de-sac out here. These properties, as you see, are undeveloped. and they are zoned SR2 single dwelling residential. This plat comes before you because the cul-de-sac area is currently in easement, and at the city's request, the applicant is replatting this to dedicate this area of the cul-de-sac to the city. As you see, the cul-de-sac has been rebuilt there, so it dedicates the area of that easement as right-of-way and also revises some of the utility easements in there. The applicant, Craig Holinsky, was not quite made it yet, but Mr. Holinsky was going to be here. The Planning Commission's recommendation is stated in the staff report and shown on the screen. That concludes staff's presentation for the cul-de-sac of Cotywood First Edition. Thank you, Commissioners.

Thank you, Mr. Kress. Any questions for Mr. Kress? Is there anyone present who wishes to address the City Commission regarding this plat? Is there anyone present who would like to speak to this item? If not, we'll close the public hearing. Is there a motion?

It's a move.

Thank you.

Second.

Second. Any discussion from the commission? All right. Hearing none, roll call, please.

Sternberg? Aye. Peterson? Yes. Strand?

Yes.

Gullickson? Yes. O'Shea?

Yes.

Thank you, Commissioners.

Thank you. We'll move on to item number 31 and following 31 we'll move 16 and 17 to follow that for everyone's awareness. So we're going to receive and file an ordinance amending section 3-2011 of article 3-20 of chapter 3 of the Fargo Municipal Code relating to a sales and use tax for infrastructure capital improvements. Mr. McLean from the Attorney's Office is here.

On June 9, 2026, about 73% of the voters approved amending Fargo's Home Rule Charter to allow for a 20-year extension of Fargo's 1% infrastructure sales tax. So Home Rule Charter, the North Dakota Constitution mandates that the state legislature provides home rule powers to home rule cities. Those powers sort of go beyond what you might find in the general state law. So it allows the citizens of Fargo or other cities to have certain powers that the state legislature allows them to choose from. to implement that could supersede state law in certain circumstances. So the city's Home Rule Charter is sort of like its local constitution, is the best analogy that I can give. And even though when the city voters amend a Home Rule Charter, the actual power has to be enacted through an ordinance. So while this voters gave us the ability to extend our sales tax by 20 years, we still have to pass an ordinance which actually puts that into law. So the sales tax was set to expire December 31, 2028. with the approval of voters will now go to December 31st, 2048. That has to be implemented through ordinance. So we will need to amend section three, 2011 to extend the sales tax through December 31st, 2048. So that's the recommended motion. How it typically works with the city is we put it on for receipt and file that gives people the ability to come and they can give comments on it. And then it'll be back up for a first reading at the next meeting and a second reading at the meeting thereafter. So it usually takes three meetings to get an ordinance amended or passed in the city of Fargo. So that would be the recommended motion, but happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. McLean. Any questions, commissioners? Any questions? Is there a motion?

I so move.

Second? Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Discussion? I think the only thing I'll add is that I think for many of us, we were pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming support from our voters in regards to the importance of the sales tax to not only have us sell for everything we purchase, we're putting some money towards it, but also those that visit and use our roads and our infrastructure are also contributing to that. So wonderful to see. With that, if no other discussion, we'll go on to roll call.

Turnberg? Aye. Peterson?

Yes.

Strand?

Yes.

Gullickson? Yes. O'Shea?

Yes. All right. We will move to items number 16, followed by 17 from the consent agenda. Item 16 is a bid award and contract for boiler replacement at Fargo Cast Public Health. And it looks like we'll have Ms. Majerus from the facilities team here.

Good evening mayors and commissioners. Um, I was not aware that these items were pulled, um, until about three minutes ago. So, uh, I will try to answer any questions that you might have. Uh, commissioner Peterson, you pulled this item.

Mr. Mayor, Mayor? Commissioner. Thank you, sir. I appreciate this. No, you did not have warning. We'll talk about the discussions of timing later, but my curiosity is twofold. So first, there's two boilers being replaced. Is it the boiler and a backup, or are there two boilers that are required to heat the building?

There is a boiler and a backup, and both are failing.

Perfect. So they are in a catastrophic state of disrepair?

Correct.

Then my, not being critical, simply educating myself. Typically the worst time to bid a boiler is in the middle of summer, right? You want to bid a boiler in December or January, ideally, so they can phase in, which is why I think we only had one bidder. Why did we wait until June to bid this thing?

So we had discussions on where the funding was going to come from. And we also had to wait to finish out the cooling season and then, or sorry, the heating season. We then put together the bid package and put it out in June because we do need to complete this before the next heating cycle. And that's just kind of how the timing played out this time around. This was an emergency repair.

Can I jump in quick? Yeah. I just want a quick add to it. We had a bond also a couple of years ago that we found some cost savings. We had so many projects assembled to that bond, and we do have a cost savings through those projects. And so that is one of the projects that we were able to add on to that bond. And so we do have a funding mechanism that will close out in October for the project also.

Wonderful. If we could do our best to avoid this in the future, that would be stellar. Absolutely. What we left on the table, I don't know what the dollar value is, but when you have one bidder, ideally that's not great. You typically want two or three. You guys know all this.

Yes.

But then further, a boiler in the middle of summer when everyone else is working means we probably paid an accelerated rate for this. So I'll trust you. I believe in you and your team that we need these things. And with that, Mr. Mayor, I'd make a motion to approve.

Is there a second?

Second.

Any discussion about the item? Any further discussion? Hearing none, we'll go to a roll call vote.

Peterson?

Yes.

Chernberg? Aye. Strand? Yes. Gullickson? Yes. Beauchesne?

Yes. Thank you, commissioners. Moving on to item number 17, a bid award and contract for fence installation around the east lot of the Fargo Police Department headquarters. Ms. Majerus?

Okay. Again, I'll defer to Commissioner Peterson as to what questions you might have had.

Mr. Mayor? Mr. Commissioner? Thank you. Yeah, so my main curiosity is why we're doing it.

Okay. This was a request from the police department. We have been looking to vacate the road actually between where the civilian vehicles are parked and the police department. That process has met its delays, but again, this is a project that is funded with bond funds from the 2024 bond issue. And so we do have a deadline of October 1st. So we made the decision to do just the civilian lot right now to provide additional protection as those vehicles are targets.

So my concern there is that this is no different than any other parking lots our public employees have to deal with. I'm not a big fan of fences that don't do anything. So these are probably four, I didn't Google them, but they're probably four by four aluminum powder cast posts with some one by one spindles, they're not going to stop a lawnmower, right? So if someone wanted to do harm, they can jump over them pretty easily, even if it's with a quick ladder. Or they could drive through them with a car. So they don't propose or they don't provide any security other than psychological. And $188,950, which doesn't include energizing them, unless that's somewhere else, which it should be somewhere. So it's going to be $200 and some thousand dollars to finish this, point being, Fences that don't do anything, I do not support.

This is a security rated fence. It's very similar to what West Fargo placed around their parking area.

And I respectfully don't like fences that don't do anything. They're not pipe bollards. This is an aluminum fence. And we have a lot of public employees and a lot of public parking spaces. Contend that if someone's afraid Adjacent the police station. How are they going to feel outside City Hall? Right you have an entire building full of badges and guns There to protect you here. We have a couple we have our chief and a couple wonderful officers I Will not be supporting this because again two hundred thousand dollars plus for offense is It doesn't make sense to me. I realize that some people may want things, but the reality is $200,000 for a fence that won't stop a car, that won't stop a serious incident. It's just a fence for the sake of having a fence. It's probably similar to the fence we have at the Public Works where we service our buses. When that went up however many years ago, that blew my mind too. We're fencing off parking lots to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars for reasons. So, no. Thank you.

Thank you. If I can just add. So, completely hear your position. It is a project that has been asked for repeatedly. And it's a project that got added to that bond a couple of weeks or a month ago. And so, completely understand that your stance is not for it. But it is a project that was approved to move forward at least for bidding purposes.

Mr. Mayor? Commissioner. Thank you, sir. One of the rules I have within my family is just because we have money doesn't mean we need to spend it, right? Absolutely. And I, again, follow with we have a lot of public employee parking lots and a lot of public employees. I'd rather not fence all of them with fences that don't have things like pipe bollards that are going to prevent cars. That's my stance. That's how I feel. That's my logic. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions from the commission? Commissioner Kernberg?

So I know police officers have been asking for added security for quite some time. Does this fence offer anything other than a basic fence around a resident's yard? Or is it of better quality to actually prevent any bad actors from doing whatever they would happen to do?

This is more than just a fence you would have around your yard. This, you know, Chad has talked about the properties of the fence. But it is a deterrent. It also has secured entrances that will be badge activated, so we don't have people just wandering into this parking lot and damaging vehicles, which has happened in the past. So this was, again, this was a request, and it was approved by administration to move forward with the bid.

And is that in this, in the 2026 budget, or is this in the 27 budget?

So this is back to we had that 2024 bond and there were some additional funds. This is a request that's been coming back on the budget. And so we did look to add it to that bond and to go out for bids and see what they came in at. And so it's part of a bond that's already been let.

Got it. Thank you. Commissioner Strand.

Mayor, thank you, Mayor. My sense is that with this just being pulled off consent today, folks don't have enough time, nor do we, to really look at the details of it and dig deeper. My recommendation would be, and I'll advance a motion, that we simply lay this on the table specifically until the next meeting so everybody can have their information ready and be prepared to answer whatever we would need to ask.

I'd second. If you're looking for a second, Mr. Mayor.

There's a motion to table this agenda item number 17 to our July 20th meeting, along with a second. Any discussion on the motion? Discussion on the motion? Hearing none, we'll do a roll call vote on the motion.

Strand?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Turnberg? Aye. Gullickson? Yes. Beauches?

No. All right, commissioners, thank you. We'll go on to item number 32. recommendation for commission liaison assignments. I had the opportunity to visit with each of you individually to understand more about your goals and some of the priorities that you had. So taking in everyone's information and kind of reworking what's been done in the past. It was my understanding in visiting with former Mayor Mahoney that often what happened was when a new commissioner came in, they just inherited the portfolio of the previous commissioner. And after visiting with staff, some I decided to create some buckets, some more themes within the, to try to align how some of the, specifically the departments, align within a commissioner's portfolio. And so to give a little bit more background around this, Commissioner Strand is going to be tasked to help co-chair My mayor's advisory council on renters, so things that touch renters, is primarily under his portfolio. Commissioner Gullickson, we moved engineering and planning together. Traditionally, those have been apart, but since those work so hand-in-hand as part of the growth plan, and as we look at the land development code, trying to partner those things there. Commissioner Turnberg with Communications and Government Affairs and her background there and then bringing facilities under one bucket with Fargo Dome and Library and then Commissioner Peterson with keeping the utilities together with solid waste water treatment and water reclamation on top of information services as we continue to look at opportunities there. So you have before you the Commission liaison assignments. With that I take a motion. Discussion, Mr. Mayor? Commissioner Peterson.

Thank you, sir. I understand how things have been done in the past, and that's wonderful. I think some of the things you've said were pretty quite logical, like the buckets analogy, which you probably carried from your legislative days. I think that, and this is coming from a statement or a stance of, I'm fine with what I have right now. The only thing I would like is actually the Fargo Dome. But that's probably the only thing that I would actually like to have. I guess what I would have rather seen done is replicating what we did in my prior life. What we did before in my prior life was we'd get together in a formal planning meeting. And all of us would sit, the five of us would sit together in an open public meeting, which is incredibly important. We all know that. And then we discuss sort of our wants and needs, right? And we then push back on each other. And let's pretend we both, let's say, Mr. Mayor, let's say I wanted police. You and I would say, I want police, I want police. We either flip a coin, pull a card, whatever. We never got to the point in my 12 years of doing this of debate or of any more than, boy, I want that. OK, can I have it next year? Cool. That was our compromise. So going forward, I think in future years, what I'd recommend is we have that. Again, I think this is a fine baseline. Other commissioners have to weigh in on what they want. Pretty clearly, I'm guessing you selected things that you wanted to do. So I would now invite that conversation to have happen. And then, like I said, in preceding years, respectfully to the organization, that's all five of us, I'd love the five of us to sit down in a planning meeting and figure out what the next year will hold. With three new faces, I think we can change. And I'll be talking about this probably in the next couple segments, too. If we're going to make a cultural shift, Now was the time to make the cultural shift. And I pray God that don't take offense to those of you that served, those that are in office prior, those that served a decade ago. Commissioner Strand, especially, please, sir, do not take offense by this. The way you operated was fine. It worked for you. But for me, I would rather have... the open, transparent dialogue of the five of us sitting around a table collaborating as a team and saying, this is what I think might be best. And I have different strengths, too. One could argue that I should have different portfolios based on my prior experience, my professional experience. The reason I like where you suggested that I be, Mr. Mayor, is because this is an area where we talk regional things. So I've got a little bit of experience there, too. But this is probably among the least things that I know. So I get to have a year to learn about something that I don't know enough about. And that, to me, is the most important part. And I talked about, Commissioner Gullickson, you heard this in my fathead rambling at our little forums. The most important part about portfolios rotating is education. I've served, and Mayor, you may have had a bit of this experience out in the legislature, Commissioner Turnberg maybe locally, regionally, and Commissioner Gullixson, school board member Gullixson. The interactions I've had on multiple occasions on multiple boards where commissioners simply don't understand what the organization does, because they've either stuck with one thing the whole time or frankly don't have interest in learning even if they're assigned the portfolio so long story short again i'm rambling uh... you'll have four years of this mayor so sorry but long story short is rotating these things so we all become educated in what we do and why we do the things we do that's also important in budgeting uh... i think is incredibly important but long story short uh... commissioner turnburg the only thing i would ask of you uh... is the fargo dome and i might suggest whether it's Commissioner Gullickson, Mayor Boccia, you're on right over dispatch. I was part of dispatch when we discussed the re-governance. So we restructured the way we did governance within dispatch. It used to be our law enforcement team and our firefighting team would guide that. They'd then come back to us with a budget inclusive of hiring, growth, all those things. We reinvented the way we governed that body because We had struggles hiring staff across the river. They're governed different across the river, and it is what it is, neither good nor bad. So we were struggling hiring staff with the resistance of that side of the river, so we redid the way we governed ourselves. I think it may be prudent, and Mr. Mayor, if you weren't on there, I'd suggest it be you, but it might be prudent, whether it's Commissioner Gullickson or even Commissioner Turnberg, if you and I swapped, because that gets you into... dispatch, which is calls for service. It's the logistics of how those things operate. So if you're interested in that, maybe you want. Maybe you and I switch Fargo Dome for dispatch. I don't know. But I would contend that if I'm going to take one thing, I should give one thing up. So I don't know if you're interested in that or not. But dispatch means I'm happy to have it, but I did it for a number of years. I was there when we reorganized the governance and we built our new structure. There's an amazing team that keeps all of us safe. And it may be prudent for someone else to have that, just to get educated in that. But again, happy to keep whatever, but that's my only request of my fellow Commissioner Turnberg. And she can say no without offending me at all. Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Turnberg? I don't get offended, so don't worry about that. Well, I wonder, instead of reinventing the wheel, and if we're trying to make a cultural shift, why don't we have a brown bag sit down and do exactly what Commissioner Peterson brought up, Because we each have strengths, we each have weaknesses. Now, when I was first elected as commissioner, I went to every single meeting that was available, whether it was in my portfolio or not. And I learned a ton, but you need to do that anyway just to become familiar with the city. So I would like to see us... start over and do things a new way rather than replicate what's been done for the last twenty years so i would make the motion let's sit down the five of us together and discuss these portfolios where what we would like what we would rather not like because a lot of them are just repeat of the same people that have had them and there hasn't been a rotation before it's been every two years so whatever your Thought is on rotation, if that's yearly, that's wonderful because then we get to learn more about different departments. But I would like to see us all sit down and do what Cass County does.

What I'll speak to in terms of the... Point of order, Mr. We actually do have a motion on the floor. Okay, thank you. So there's a motion on the floor?

I would move that we sit down, have a brown bag lunch this week, and discuss what portfolios as a commission together.

I'll second the motion for second discussion.

Okay, there's a second. Discussion on the motion. Discussion?

Commissioner, Commissioner Strand here, Mayor. Commissioner. I really wish I was there. Can you hear me, folks, okay?

We can, thank you, keep going.

I wish I was there for this discussion. They're very important discussions. My sense is you probably as mayor talked to everybody. And you probably vetted these avenues of consideration with each of the commissioners as best you could. And I'm okay with that. I don't know that I need to reinvent the wheel. I can live with the appointments and I can live with the inherited process that the mayor got when he arrived here. And this is your first meeting. But it's, you know, and I'm not so sure we could pull up our policies. They probably spell out that the mayor appoints these with commission approval.

Thank you, Commissioner. Other discussion? Commissioner Peterson?

Mr. Mayor, thank you. Yeah, Commissioner Strand, the governance policy actually does say the mayor makes the recommendation. So you are not wrong in that fact. But again, that doesn't preclude from having discussions beyond that, right? It doesn't mean he just says something and it's done. if that makes sense. So you're not wrong at all, is my point, I guess.

Right, because this commission still ratifies the recommendation, correct? Any further discussion on the motion? Hearing none, we'll go to a roll call vote on the motion.

Would you clarify the motion, please? I believe it's to have a brown bag on this topic.

Commissioner Turnberg, would you clarify?

Yes, to get together the five of us and have a discussion of portfolios.

We'll do a roll call.

Sternberg?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Gullixson? Yes. Strand?

No.

Beauchesne?

No.

Mr. Mayor. Commissioner Peterson. Could you set the date? What's logistically, or maybe I look at our associate to my left, what's the most logical way in proceeding with picking a date? Because I think ideally sooner is better than later, like tonight even or tomorrow. Again, typically what we would do just to share conversation and learning, we would typically meet after our regular meeting, so we would actually have a planning meeting scheduled for after this. Sure. But I'm available. My concern right now is Commissioner Strand. not being available. And I hear you say it, Commissioner Strand, you want to be here because being in person is exponentially more easy. You can read body language and those sorts of things. And I think that's important. But if I may be so pointed, Commissioner Strand, are you available this week?

Mayor, may I speak?

Yeah, Commissioner Strand, yes.

I expect to be back tomorrow. I might not look like you expect me to look. I had an accident last week, but I expect to be back tomorrow.

Some people didn't expect me to look like this either, Commissioner.

So with that and with the motion passing, we will consult everyone's calendar and do it as quickly as we can because there are commission meetings actually scheduled for this week, and I know departments are interested in getting, especially with onboarding for some of us. commissioner peterson mr mayor can you leave that charge please yes thank you i'll take that with the city staff so thank you one point i'd like to make uh as you may have noticed in the liaison assignments as proposed uh i've been i've placed myself as an alternate to the lake agassi water authority board uh traditionally that is a seat for the mayor um I have asked former Mayor Mahoney to serve in the chair of the formal position representing Fargo, and I'll be the alternate part of that. West Fargo has done that with former Mayor Dardis. Valley City is doing it with their former mayor. The importance of this project and the work that they have done to continue that forward, especially through the next legislative session, was a priority for all of us in that. So traditionally, again, the city of Fargo has had its own seat, but I am deferring that and making the recommendation that that would be Mayor Mahoney to keep that continuity going. And then I'll continue on side by side with him on that. So just for a note for you all. All right, we will move on to discussion or agenda item number 33, recommendation for appointment of a deputy mayor. You received in your packet that I'm recommending Commissioner Strand as deputy mayor. My thought process with that is his seniority on the commission and knowing that he has publicly stated that within two years he will not be running for reelection, but having someone with his sage advice will be important for me as we continue to navigate the next two years in this role, so. Is there a motion?

So moved.

Second? Is there a second?

Okay.

Motion does not carry. Commissioners, any discussion? Commissioner Peterson?

Oh, your light was on.

We will, I'm looking to Mr. McLean for any advice.

We have a city ordinance that says we need to elect a deputy city mayor at our first regular meeting. So we do need to have another motion if that one is not going to pass.

Mayor, for the sake of discussion and to keep us moving forward, I will second the motion.

Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Gullickson, standing by your primary motion since we paused? Okay, thank you. Any discussion, Commissioner? Commissioner Peterson.

Mr. Mayor, thank you. Yeah, Commissioner Strand, that's what I was waiting for. Ideally, you don't want to nominate yourself, but you can comfortably make a second. When you were silent on your second, that led me, and I've not talked to the mayor or anyone about this, that led me to believe you were reluctant in taking the position. So I'm presuming with that second, Commissioner, that you are content in taking this position, yes?

Might I answer, Mayor? I am absolutely honored to be put up for deputy mayor. And I look forward to it. You know, this North Dakota humbleness where we're the last people in the world to put ourselves up for something. But we also have to have a vote. And if it went down, I can live with that also.

Mr. Peterson. Again, just want to reassure you that it wasn't a criticism. It's just I was looking for you to say, yes, you'd like to do this because I didn't want to put you at, you know, usually the person that winds up leading the club is the person who's absent in the first meeting, right? So I didn't want to volunteer you for something you didn't want to do. So thank you, sir. Thank you.

Any further discussion? Discussion? Hearing none, we'll move on to a roll call vote.

Gullickson? Yes. Strand?

Yes.

Turnburg? Yes. Peterson? Yes. Beauches?

Yes. Thank you, commissioners. We'll move on to the next agenda item, recommendations for appointments to the Board of Adjustment and the Library Board. You have on the packet the recommendations for the Board of Adjustment. It's a continuation of service. In the Library Board, it is a new appointment due to someone termed out. So do I have a motion?

So moved.

Thank you. Second?

Second.

Wonderful. Any discussion on the appointments to the Board of Adjustment or Library Board? Commissioner Peterson.

How many applicants did we get for these openings, if any? Mr. Mayor, do you know?

I don't know that answer, but I think it was nominal.

You can just scream. Few and far between. And the reason I'm asking is it's important for our public to engage. And it's not to be critical of any one of these people I'm supporting, but the main message I want to convey to folks is if we've got openings, so I chaired the Board of Adjustment for years prior to any involvement in anything else because Mayor Furness actually said, here's how this is going to work, you're going to do this. So I wound up as an alternate, wound up chairing it after a while. We need our public to engage, and I realize how stressful and painful these can be because they do not pay. There are multiple meetings, and they typically take place during the day. So you'll be taking vacation time to serve the public and gain nothing from it. But it's imperative that you become involved as citizens because we need your volunteerism. And I know volunteerism has been a bit of a struggle in the past years, but hopefully we can engage. Luckily, we have two folks that want to serve. But if anyone else in the audience are listening online, playing the home game, as I've often said, please, please, please engage. We need your help. Thank you much. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Ms. Derrick?

So we had eight for the library board. I don't know for sure how many on the other. But to your point to apply at anytime because you never know when there's an opening. So we keep a running list of anyone that turns in an application. So I will. I will enhance what you just said, and if you ever find a board that of interest to you and would like to apply, please do because those openings can come anytime throughout the year.

Well stated any further discussion? Hearing none, roll call vote.

Turnberg? Aye. Gullickson? Yes. Strand?

Yes.

Peterson?

Yes.

Boucher?

Yes. All right, we're getting to the end here. With it being our first meeting, we still have our liaison commissioner assignment updates. Some of you have been engaged with your commissions or your departments already. So we'll also use this opportunity if there's just any general statements that anyone would like to make. But we'll start with our incumbent commissioners. Commissioner Turnberg.

Sure. I had a wonderful meeting with the chief of police today for about an hour and a half. Went over many, many different topics, but I think we see some light at the end of the tunnel. The police are doing a wonderful job in improving the situation in town. And if you do have any sort of incident, if you do notice any bad behavior, if you do see any criminal activity, please call the police. Police should be called, no one else. It's the police. If it's not an emergency, then call that line, but if it is an emergency, you should call the police, not any other number that you have been given. Also had a great meeting with our library director and of course they continue to do wonderful things and it's important to check out what is on the agenda at the library because they are very busy and they are very good at what they do.

Thank you Commissioner. Commissioner Strand.

Thank you, Mayor. Initially, I'd like to join the community in inviting you as our new mayor and Commissioner Gullickson and Commissioner Peterson to the dais. We're in for a really interesting, exciting new time, and the people have spoken, and it'll be an honor and pleasure to work with you all. Lastly, you all maybe know me and my birthdays. Tomorrow is Commissioner Turnbridge's birthday, so if anybody bumps into her in the street, wish her your best.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Thank you. Commissioner Peterson.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think long story short is honored to be here, happy to serve. Looking forward to four blessed years with the folks that are here. Maybe some here, Commissioner Strand, I think you're termed out in two. And chances are you can't run for mayor in two because you're here for four. So at least two with Commissioner Strand. So honored to be here, happy to serve. Look forward to our meeting when the mayor sets it regarding portfolios. And I think Godspeed. Thanks.

Thank you. Commissioner Gullickson.

Thank you. I would echo some of the same sentiments. Hats off to our police as I visit with various businesses around town. I'm hearing that the changes have been immediate and positive, so I just want to give a shout out to them. Thank you to Fargo. I'm grateful to be here. I will serve you with my heart, soul, and mind. And I guess the only other thing I had is I met with the planning team already this morning and it was a great meeting. I think we were going to do a half hour and we ended up over an hour before we all kind of called it and said we'll see each other tomorrow at the 3 o'clock meeting. So thank you.

Thank you. This morning I had the opportunity to meet with the cabinet and some key points that came out of there. I thank the Fargo Police Department for their flock safety transparency portal that anyone can access now at fargopolice.com. A growing concern of license plate readers and what can and can't happen with those. So there's a lot of information there that the public has access to. So thank you to Fargo PD for doing that. Also today they welcomed Academy Class 10, which we have 13 new recruits, to the police academy. And so continuing to build that pipeline. Fargo Fire is working on their next class and that is coming up as well. For those that are of interest of the city's budget, the finance budget workshops are scheduled for the mornings of July 20th, 21st, and 22nd in this room. You can also watch them online, but that'll be an opportunity for not only the commission but the public to learn more about the individual budgets of each department. You'll see it's quite extensive because we spread that out over three days to get as much information out in the various revenue sources as well as the requests coming in. So another way for the public to engage in the budget process. And with that, I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve as your mayor. I look forward to working with this amazing commission and continuing to move our great city forward, especially as we address the challenges and opportunities that we face each and every day. What makes Fargo the strongest is the people, and I think we learned over the last several months that as some of us campaigned and others were engaged in different ways, was that Fargoans are always willing to rise to the challenge. And I know that we will be better tomorrow than we were yesterday, and that's because of the commitment of each and every one of you. So, thank you. With that, we will move on to public comments. As a reminder, two and a half minutes is offered for each person signed up to speak, and tonight we have one speaker. We'll ask the speakers to come off to my left, to your right, and is Mr. Slutmo here? Mr. Slutmo. Is that him? All right. So, all right, seeing that he is not present, we will close the public comment. And with that, I'll adjourn the meeting.