FARGO (KFGO) – Five of the seven candidates running for Fargo mayor in the June 14 election plead their case Wednesday night in a debate hosted by KFGO at the Sanctuary downtown.
Incumbent Mayor Tim Mahoney, City Commissioner Arlette Preston, Sheri Fercho, Hukun Dabar, and Michael Borgie took the stage, fielding questions from mediators Paul Jurgens, Don Haney, and Tasha Carvell.
Shannon Roers-Jones and Dustin Elliott did not participate in the debate. Roers-Jones was out of the country and Elliott was home with a sick child.
The candidates covered a variety of topics from housing and employment to mental health, public safety, and whether Fargo needs a full-time mayor.
What are the top priorities for each candidate?
Commissioner Preston, who was re-elected to the commission in 2020, said mental health is an issue that needs to be solved with cooperation between communities and the state.
“We have an underfunding issue with both providers and other services,” Preston said. “We need to address that with some additional funding.”
Mayor Mahoney said housing – including affordable housing for retirees, safety, and childcare are the biggest issues facing Fargo. He pointed out that the price of housing is increasing every year, while availability is low. As it relates to public safety, the mayor said there will be a satellite police station moving to the downtown area.
“We’re getting to be a big community and being a big community, we have to deliver on the promises of keeping it safe,” Mahoney said.
Dabar, who moved to Fargo in 2014, said workforce shortages are his top priority and seeks to start a Workforce Department within the City of Fargo to match job seekers with employers.
Public safety is at the top of the list for Borgie, who moved back to Fargo after living here in the 1990s and has a background in the hospitality industry. He feels there are laws currently in place that are not being enforced in Fargo.
“In the line of work that I do, we have a lot of small-time theft and none of that’s being addressed,” Borgie said. “It’s like an entry-level into small crime that leads to bigger crimes, and other problems. Some of that needs to be addressed.”
Fercho is a stay-at-home mom who grew up in Fargo and feels beautification is missing. She feels planning and preservation is a top priority and would begin by engaging with members of the community to work within each neighborhood to find leaders who can help build trust and strengthen each neighborhood.
Housing and Property Taxes
Affordable housing and property taxes were a big topic of discussion. Each candidate agreed the issues need to be addressed, but the approach differed.
“We need to look at how we do inclusionary housing for low income renters,” Preston said. Adding that one possibility would be to require developers of high-income developments like Block 9 to do inclusionary housing for low-income individuals on another project.
Mahoney pointed out that there are currently three low-income housing projects in the downtown area as well as Beyond Shelter in the old Kmart lot. He said the City has a role and has invested $1 million into a core neighborhood study to help figure out what to do about the housing problem.
Borgie said property taxes are a hard pill to swallow for many homeowners and raising the value of a home isn’t always good because people on fixed incomes have trouble paying increased taxes. If elected mayor, he would work with the auditor to find out who sets the value and why.
Preston said increased value on houses is a two-edged sword because homeowners want value to go up for investment, but property taxes are the negative side. She said managing the budget is one way to help homeowners as well as finding ways to increase revenue to relieve property taxes.
Valuation is a challenge that Mahoney said the state plays into. The City needs to value homes at 90% of the true value according to state rules. He said there have been creative ways to offset taxes, such as contracting with the City of West Fargo to provide water and sewage services to them. Public works has contracted fuel to get a better rate for vehicles through the year.
Workforce Shortages
Workforce shortages are a priority for all the candidates. The City of Fargo currently has over 20 high-paying jobs that are not filled. Mahoney said much of that is due to competition with the private sector.
“In the past, people came to apply, we used to have 50-60 (applicants), now we have 10-15. It’s a much lesser number than we had before. Why is that? Because we’re in competition with the whole community.”
The City is currently doing a market study to see where they are at in terms of keeping up with wages. Mahoney feels the study will show the need to raise pay for City employees.
Borgie echoed the mayor’s thoughts on the need to compete with the private sector. He said, especially post-pandemic, it is increasingly hard to find applicants.
Preston believes ensuring affordable and accessible housing to attract new residents will help fill those positions. She added that childcare needs to be part of that process.
Childcare is another problem, whether it is finding affordable childcare – or childcare in general, that the candidates weighed in on. Preston said childcare providers are having trouble with worker shortages as well and a solution would be to increase funding for that service.
“Being able to pay a living wage to those individuals that are taking care of children is a major part of all of this,” Preston said.
She suggested working with state legislators to increase funding, support, and subsidies for childcare providers. Preston said locally, she’s been working with new childcare centers that are trying to get established. She’d like to find a way to safely figure out a way to streamline those processes.
Dabar and Mahoney both agreed that solving the childcare shortage would help solve the general workforce shortage. Dabar also agreed with Preston that the state would be a resource to help people open childcare centers.
Public Safety
The candidates discussed what they feel is the biggest public safety threat in Fargo. Dabar felt that if the workforce issues are properly addressed, safety would follow. Fercho said beautification leads to safety.
Speeding was mentioned by Mahoney, Preston, and Borgie.
Preston said she’s been fielding calls about ‘drag racing’ on city streets. Borgie believes the police department need to focus on enforcing laws like distracted driving and speeding. Mahoney said there is a task force coming that will address the speeding issues.
Beer at NDSU games?
The debate moved into a rapid-fire segment of the debate where the topic of beer at Bison games was brought up. Preston cited her background in nursing and alcohol problems in Fargo as a reason she wouldn’t support it. Fercho cited the family environment she’d like to see come back to sports as her reason for opposing it.
Mayor Mahoney had a different thought.
“I think we have to look at beer at UND hockey games and at the SHAC – it’s working,” Mahoney said. “We have more responsible drinkers now than we’ve ever had.”
Borgie brought up the possibilities of tax revenue from beer sales at the games, which Mahoney agreed with.
“Mike hit it right on the barrel – how do you pay for the Fargodome?” Mahoney asked. “If you have alcohol sales, you do increase the revenue that you get into your coffers. We also have to think about the Fargodome – is it time to revamp the Fargodome? I’d ask any woman in the room – do we need to have more bathrooms in that place? Yeah, we do. We need to revamp that. If you’re going to have alcohol, you could have spots where people could enjoy the alcohol and keep away from the family areas.”
Another topic that came up was whether or not Fargo needed a full-time mayor. Mahoney, Dabar, and Fercho all believed that Fargo does. Borgie disagreed, saying that if the mayor is organized, part-time is plenty.
The entire debate can be seen below:
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