July 8, 2026 Special City Commission Meeting Minutes

Agreeable with a call for a Special Meeting issued by Mayor Boschee, the Board of City Commissioners of the City of Fargo, North Dakota, convened in a Special Meeting in the City Commission Chambers at City Hall at 12:00 o'clock p.m. Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
The Commissioners present or absent were as shown following:
Present: Gullickson, Peterson, Strand, Turnberg and Boschee.
Mayor Boschee presiding.

City Commissioner Liaison Assignments Approved:
Mayor Boschee said this Special Meeting was called to finalize liaison assignments, noting that formal action was required rather than an informal workshop. The new assignment structure groups departments into thematic buckets, he stated, rather than just passing down historical lists to new members. Key emphasis was placed on liaisons advocating for their departments during the upcoming budget cycle, he said and a new annual review process every July was proposed. He said the draft presented at Monday’s City Commission meeting is the baseline and he asked that formal motions be made for any changes.
Commissioner Peterson said he is proposing a team approach to this, with everyone having a say and a voice. He said he is fine with what has been proposed; however, he wants to ensure there is dialogue so everyone can succeed. He said he and Commissioner Gullickson spoke prior to the election and there are some synergies that may work. He said with her schedule being complex, he wants to make sure she is set up to succeed. He said the County has an appointment to the FARGODOME Board and he wanted that appointment for all of his 12 years at the County and now that he has an opportunity to serve on that Board, he is hoping that change can be made.
Commissioner Strand said his sense is that a good starting point would be to look at the existing frameworks. He said he appreciates that there are desires with new members to address and change culture; however, culture in the City environment is rooted in policy and Ordinance.
In response to a question from Commissioner Strand asking what Ordinances and policies are affecting and leading to the implementation of liaison assignments, City Attorney Ian McLean said Fargo has a Home Rule Charter and Article 2, Section 5 talks about liaison assignments and states that individual assignments will be proposed by the Mayor and approved by the governing body. Section 7 says a member of the governing body may serve as a participating member on any board, commission or government unit as may be determined by the governing body, which would be the City Commission, he said.
Commissioner Peterson said he is also requesting the Economic Development Incentives Committee (EDIC) assignment. He said the County was never kept updated regarding things such as TIFs and PILOTs and he proposed a bill at the State Legislature which forced the City to require both the County and the School Board to approve PILOTs and TIFs and it passed unanimously. He said if Commissioner Gullickson wants to keep the EDIC he will ask her to create a comprehensive list of all TIFs and PILOTs. He said he wants everyone to understand exactly where property taxes are not being paid. He said with the Red River Regional Dispatch Center Board (RRRDC), it logically fits into the public safety bucket alongside Police and Fire, so perhaps Commissioner Turnberg could take it as it would loop her into the new governance and budgeting structures for Fire, Police, dispatch and ambulance services.
Commissioner Turnberg said a lot of these assignments, when comparing them to two years ago, are exactly the same. She and Commissioner Strand have some of the same departments and the Mayor's role is almost completely identical. She said Commissioner Peterson can have the FARGODOME and the Fargo Dome Authority, and she could take the Airport Authority. She said she has great relationships with Police and Fire and she would really benefit them in terms of what has been done in the past, how the tax should move forward and how the departments should move forward. She said those are two departments she is passionate about and public safety was the number one thing she ran on. She said she has a background in communications, so it makes sense to keep the Communications portfolio.
Commissioner Strand said he resists this approach to these policy discussions. He said he appreciates the discussion, but policy and procedure is exactly the lane the Board needs to stay in. This hasty approach is not his recommendation and he will not support it.
Commissioner Peterson said he thinks this is exactly what the policy dictates. The Mayor makes a recommendation and the Commission approves it, he said. The fact that the Commission has historically accepted recommendations without pushing back does not make this discussion wrong, he said. He wants to follow the governance policies, he stated; however, the previous Mayor often did things independently and the Commission was not always fully aware of it, things were sometimes missed on the Consent Agenda and that cannot happen anymore. He said everyone is equal and there is no supreme power. He said just because things were done a certain way in the past due to a lack of desire from leadership to engage the Board does not mean it should continue that way. His professional strengths are in planning, inspections, building and development and none of those are in his portfolio and that is all right, he likes what the Mayor proposed due to the fact that it pushes him to learn new things. He said he is not trying to undermine the Mayor, he simply wants to deliver on what he promised.
Commissioner Peterson moved the FARGODOME Department liaison and the Fargo Dome Authority Finance Committee be moved to Commissioner Peterson and the Airport Authority be moved to Commissioner Turnberg.

Second by Turnberg. On call of the roll Commissioners Peterson, Turnberg, Gullickson and Boschee voted aye.
Commissioner Strand voted nay.
The motion was declared carried.

In response to a question from Commissioner Peterson asking if the RRRDC might be better suited for someone else, Mayor Boschee said his rationale for placing dispatch under Commissioner Peterson’s portfolio was his previous experience with that organization with Cass County. However, if he is willing to give it up and someone else has an interest in it, we can look at that, he said.
Commissioner Peterson said he originally viewed it as an asset for Commissioner Gullickson; however, he is happy to keep it.
Commissioner Turnberg said if she is allowed to have Fire and Police, she could certainly take the RRRDC assignment. That seems like it would be a very good fit alongside Ambulance Service Oversight, she said.
Commissioner Gullickson said she is unwilling to give up the Fire portfolio. She said she has built strong relationships with Fire and has deep feelings of support for the public safety teams. She said she previously asked for Fire and Police and was told that the Police Department is a more natural fit for the Mayor's office due to its emergency nature. Due to that, she said, she would like to hang on to Fire.
Commissioner Turnberg said she has built two years of solid relationships with the Fire Department, worked incredibly hard to help pass the Public Safety Sales Tax and they trust her. Just because something has been done a certain way for many years does not mean we have to blindly repeat it, she said. When two people are interested in a department, seniority should carry some weight, she stated.
Commissioner Peterson said as a reminder, portfolios will be rotating in the future. While we may not all get our exact wishes today, he said, we will get to experience them eventually if we stick to our word.
In response to a question from Commissioner Turnberg asking how often are portfolios actually going to rotate, Mayor Boschee said what was discussed was having an annual conversation about assignments. He said he would likely need to bring that to the governance committee to establish a more formal policy structure.
Commissioner Peterson said it may be prudent to hold on to certain portfolios for a couple of years due to the fact that it takes that long to fully grasp them.
In response to a question from Commissioner Turnberg asking how long he has overseen the Health Department, Commissioner Strand said it has been two years.
In response to a question from Commissioner Turnberg, asking when these selections are made when multiple commissioners request the same department, is seniority taken into consideration, Mayor Boschee said his approach was to create logical departmental buckets. He said he looked at the priorities that everyone shared with him, grouped related departments together and focused on how those groupings could increase efficiency and cross-departmental collaboration during budget planning. For example, he said, Commissioner Strand and he are going to be working closely on renter and housing issues, so the departments touching those topics are grouped in Commissioner Strand’s column. Engineering and Planning used to be separate; however, due to the intensive work surrounding the new Growth Plan, the Land Development Code rewrite and the EDIC, it made sense to him to consolidate them into a single portfolio moving forward, he said. His original proposal for Commissioner Turnberg focused primarily on the facilities side of City operations, he stated, which is why it included the FARGODOME and Library. He said she retained the Library and received Communications and Governmental Affairs based on her professional background and expressed interests. For Commissioner Peterson, he said, utilities was carved out as its own distinct bucket. So, the proposal was less about seniority or historical assignments, and more about how we as commissioners can best lead collaborative efforts between related operations, he said.
Commissioner Turnberg said she understand the rationale generally; however, regarding the Fire Department specifically, two asked for it, she has seniority and she is still curious why she is not receiving that assignment.
Mayor Boschee said it came down to balancing workloads. While multiple people requested Fire, Commissioner Gullickson only had two total departments assigned to her column at that point, whereas Commissioner Turnberg had four, he said. It was simply an effort to even out the responsibilities across the bench, he said.
Commissioner Strand moved that the Fire and Police portfolios remain assigned as recommended by the Mayor.

Second by Gullickson. On call of the roll Commissioners Strand, Gullickson, Peterson and Boschee voted aye.
Commissioner Turnberg voted nay.
The motion was declared carried.

Commissioner Peterson said it seems nobody actively wants the RRRDC Board.
Commissioner Strand said the RRRDC could be a fit for him alongside Health. He said he follows national conversations about how emergency dispatch affects medical triaging and how localized routing impacts public health outcomes.
Commissioner Peterson said with the RRRDC governance structure having just been completely reinvented, it is prudent for a fresh face from this Commission to step into that board seat.
Commissioner Peterson moved to transfer the RRRDC board assignment to Commissioner Strand.

Second by Turnberg. On call of the roll Commissioners Peterson, Turnberg, Gullickson, Strand and Boschee voted aye.
No Commissioner being absent and none voting nay, the motion was declared carried.

Commissioner Gullickson said she would be happy to give the EDIC to Commissioner Peterson. She said she was entertaining the idea of a switch due to the fact that the RRRDC aligns closely with her interest in public safety; however, she appreciates Commissioner Strand stepping into that role.
In response to a question from Commissioner Gullickson asking if she and Commissioner Peterson could team up on the EDIC, Mr. Peterson said he prefers to follow established governance policies and if she is the designated portfolio liaison, he will direct his data requests and questions directly to her and will help her succeed. There is an incredibly skilled set of professionals in City Hall, he said and he can offer 12 years of local and legislative experience in dealing with tax incentives to act as an asset for her.
Commissioner Gullickson said she is cautious about making a sudden change due to the fact that the EDIC ties intimately into all the other planning and development pieces currently in her portfolio. She said she feels like removing it might leave a hole in the continuity of those projects.
Commissioner Peterson said he did not want to volunteer Commissioner Gullickson for the significant workload of the EDIC assignment. Placing something he has an intense personal passion for onto her does not feel fair, he said. That is the only place his intent was coming from, he said; however, he looks forward to working with her on it.
Commissioner Turnberg said the two could work together and maximize individual strengths. Commissioner Peterson already has 12 years of direct experience with this specific issue, she said and starting out on this Commission can feel like trying to drink out of a fire hose
Commissioner Strand said economic incentives are one of the most critical policy topics facing the community now. While addressing housing through a newly created task force and preparing for the upcoming legislative session, he said, the City is also navigating State-imposed tax caps and temporary disagreements between the City and County regarding incentive terms and approvals. The Economic Development Department is navigating a transition without a permanent director, he said and he wants to ensure this Commission engages in serious, honest evaluations regarding look backs, claw backs and long-term developer accountability. Right now, the City does not require compliance reports to prove developers actually fulfill the metrics they promised in order to qualify for the funding, he stated. The Commission must protect the community’s financial health without giving away the farm, he said. Whoever ends up holding this portfolio, he said, all he asks is that the City holds people responsible for what they promise to deliver.
In response to a question from Commissioner Gullickson asking how these pieces fit together or if the Commission could be effectively served under a different portfolio configuration, City Administrator Michael Redlinger said ever since the City formed the Tax Exempt Review Committee and partnered with the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation, the City Commission has routinely moved representatives in and out of these specific roles. Making an adjustment today is entirely consistent with past practice and remains completely at the discretion of the Commission, he stated. Staff can easily work with either configuration and we will fully support the portfolio under Commissioner Peterson if that is the will of the Board, he said.
In response to a question from Commissioner Strand asking Commissioner Peterson to share his specific views on look backs, claw backs and developer accountability, given what he has observed from his time at the County, Commissioner Peterson said he believes in 100% financial accountability. He served on the Renaissance Zone Authority, which was an excellent structural choice due to the fact that it established a de facto liaison to the County Commission, he said. The logic is simple: by having someone in the room who participates in the initial debate and understands the explicit intent of a project, you build an automatic advocate who can thoroughly educate the next political subdivision when the project moves forward for concurrent approval. He said developers frequently present grand plans with the absolute best of intentions; however, when market conditions shift and the project finishes looking substantially different than what was approved, they have already received their neighbors' tax dollars. Historically, the City has rarely gone back to enforce consequences or rescind the incentive, he said. He also struggles with the sheer length of tax exemptions, he stated. At the County, he said, incentives exceeding seven years were rare and the only 10-year exemption he recalls supporting was for the $400 million soybean processing plant in Casselton, which was an entirely different economic beast than granting a 10-year property tax exemption for a Downtown residential complex built on a greenfield site. He said his rule of thumb is if a development project requires 10 to 15 years of zero property taxes just to survive, it is fundamentally not a viable project.
Commissioner Gullickson said if she agrees to transfer the EDIC portfolio to Commissioner Peterson, she would like to be a friendly pest and she would be able to take the RRRDC so that it aligns directly with the Fire Department portfolio.
Commissioner Strand said he would be okay with that swap.
Mayor Boschee said that change would require a separate, distinct motion since we have already voted on the RRRDC seat.
Commissioner Turnberg moved to transfer the EDIC from Commissioner Gullickson to Commissioner Peterson.

Second by Peterson. On call of the roll Commissioners Turnberg, Peterson, Gullickson, Strand and Boschee voted aye.
No Commissioner being absent and none voting nay, the motion was declared carried.

Commissioner Strand moved that the prior discussion regarding the RRRDC Board be revisited and that assignment be transferred from his portfolio to Commissioner Gullickson.

Second by Peterson. On call of the roll Commissioners Strand, Peterson, Gullickson, Turnberg and Boschee voted aye.
No Commissioner being absent and none voting nay, the motion was declared carried.

Commissioner Gullickson moved to adopt the updated portfolio slate as follows:
Peterson:
Departments: Information Services, Solid Waste, Water Treatment, Water Reclamation, FARGODOME.
Committees: Diversion Authority, Diversion Authority-Finance Committee, Metro COG, Vector Control, Fargo Dome Authority – Finance Committee, Economic Development Incentives Commission, Utility Committee.
Board Liaison: Red River Basin Board, Fargo Youth Initiative, Fargo Dome Authority.
Turnberg:
Departments: Communications & Governmental Affairs, Facilities, Library.
Committees: Ambulance Service Oversight Committee, Diversion Authority, Diversion Authority – Land Management Committee, Metro Cog.
Board Liaison: Library Board, Airport Authority, Red River Basin Board (alternate).
Boschee:
Departments: City Commission, Finance/Assessors, Human Resources, Police, Public Works.
Committees: Diversion Authority, Diversion Authority – Finance Committee, Diversion Authority – Planning Committee, Economic Development Incentives Committee, GFMEDC, Liquor Control, Red River Regional Dispatch Center Board, Lake Agassiz Water Authority (alternate), Public Works Projects Evaluation Committee.
Board Liaison: Renaissance Zone Authority.
Gullickson:
Departments: Engineering, Planning, Fire.
Committees: Cass County Planning Commission, Diversion Authority (alternate), Metro Area Transit Coordinating Board, Metro COG, Red River Regional Dispatch Center Board, Traffic Technical Advisory Committee.
Board Liaison: Board of Adjustment, Historic Preservation Commission, Planning Commission, Renaissance Zone Authority, Special Assessment Commission.
Strand:
Departments: Health, Inspections, Transit/Mobility.
Committees: Cass Clay Food Commission, Diversion Authority (alternate), Metro Area Transit Coordinating Board, Metro COG, Regional Housing Commission.
Board Liaison: Board of Appeals, Board of Health, Civil Service, Downtown Community Partnership/InFocus, Housing Authority, House Moving Board.

Second by Peterson. On call of the roll Commissioners Gullickson, Peterson, Strand, Turnberg and Boschee voted aye.
No Commissioner being absent and none voting nay, the motion was declared carried.

The meeting adjourned at 1:04 o’clock p.m.