Fargo Mayor Josh Boschee (left), City Commissioner Michelle Turnberg (right)
FARGO (KFGO) – A special election will be held October 6 for Fargo voters to decide if the city should change from an at-large city commission to a ward-based city council.
Fargo Mayor Josh Boschee says he supports the idea of Fargo switching to a ward-based council.
“I really think that having someone directly represent a ward, or neighborhoods, makes you accountable to at least the neighbor on 5th street, or century boulevard. To say ‘my garbage didn’t get picked up’ or ‘I’m really concerned about this activity happening in my neighborhood I’d like you to address it.’ It just increases that accountability and engagement.” Boschee said.
Former City Commissioners Arlette Preston and Tony Gehrig have both supported the switch.
Current City Commissioner Michelle Turnberg says she’s concerned about using a special election to present the change to voters.
“They could have done it so it would have been on the November election where we actually have voter turnout and get a better percentage of voters deciding on a new governance for our city. Instead, they timed it out so there’s a special election, which is going to cost us upwards of about $100,000, for city residents of Fargo, and we’ll get about seven percent of voters turning out, to me that doesn’t represent the city.” Turnberg said.
Turnberg also raised concerns that voters will not know exactly how the wards are split up, and says it could lead to gerrymandering.
The city is planning to use paper ballots for the election since electronic voting equipment will not be available. Cass County also will not be able to administer the election because the date falls close enough to the November general election.
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