Michael Redlinger interviews before the selection committee Friday, December 16
FARGO (KFGO) – Michael Redlinger, who is currently serving as Fargo’s Interim City Administrator, was selected by a unanimous vote of the hiring committee Friday to be permanently named to the position.
Commissioner Dave Piepkorn made the motion to offer the job to Redlinger, saying he demonstrated “excellence” in his interview and is “the perfect guy for the spot.”
Mayor Tim Mahoney concurred, calling Redlinger dedicated. Commissioner John Strand said it was gratifying to have the internal candidate be the top choice.
“That speaks to our culture where we invest in and cultivate and groom new leaders and give them a chance to keep advancing – it’s worth noting,” Strand said. “Any other city interviewing Mike would have been hugely impressed.”
Before the final vote, Strand and Commissioner Arlette Preston expressed concern about the selection process after two of the four candidates the committee was set to interview on Friday dropped out overnight.
Mayor Tim Mahoney said he was deeply disappointed by Kenneth Haskin and Pat Oman’s withdrawals as candidates. Haskin is a city manager in Missouri and Oman is the Administrator for Becker County in Minnesota.
“These open meeting laws are kind of crazy because what happens is the candidates discover and realize this is open to the public. And so we’ve had a startling thing happen: one candidate dropped out last night and one candidate dropped out this morning,” Mahoney said when the committee convened early Friday. “I got a phone call last night from the press in Missouri and a reporter was anxious to know what was going on, which I can say nothing about, and a half hour later I got a message that this candidate dropped (out) – and he had flown up here and was ready for the interview.”
Mahoney said after the interview process was complete that he didn’t think the committee or the city could afford to delay the decision, but in the future the open meeting laws need to be examined and the interview process needs to be re-considered. The consultants who assisted the city in the hiring process insisted all the candidates were made aware of the open meetings laws, and said the process should not have come as a surprise. Another member of the selection committee, Public Works Director Ben Dow, said it isn’t uncommon for candidates’ current employers to step in at the last minute and convince them to stay in their roles.
The other candidate besides Redlinger who remained in the running was James Puffalt, currently a city manger in Canada. Puffalt appeared before the selection committee via Zoom and Redlinger interviewed in person at City Hall.
31 people applied for the position that was left vacant when Bruce Grubb retired in June.
Piepkorn referenced Grubb’s service to Fargo in his comments after making the motion to recommend Redlinger, who served as the assistant administrator under Grubb.
“I think we’re so fortunate…we had Joe Montana as the city administrator and the back-up was Steve Young,” Piepkorn said.
Redlinger served as Fargo’s Assistant City Administrator for six years. Prior to that, he was in city management in Moorhead for 15 years.
The City Administrator is responsible for the performance of approximately 1,900 city personnel, including part-time and seasonal staff.
Comments