Fargo City Commission Meeting Wrap-Up - 10.14.2024
In case you missed the October 14, 2024, Fargo City Commission meeting, here are a few highlights we would like you to know about.
Bridge Study Underway in Fargo
The City of Fargo Engineering Department is undertaking a study of all the bridges within Fargo and its extraterritorial area.
Of the 129 bridges identified through the study, about two-thirds of them are regularly inspected by the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT), as required by law. The remaining third are
skyways, pedestrian bridges, pedestrian tunnels, drain crossings and bridge retaining walls that are not typically inspected by NDDOT.
The City of Fargo has contracted with Houston Engineering to complete the bridge study. As part of the study, Houston is developing field inspection plans for the bridges not inspected by NDDOT, along with recommended repair and preventative maintenance plans.
Since the project began last year, the scope has grown to include the study of an additional seven bridges, as well as efforts to acquire data for the City’s existing structure inventory and for assisting with setting up a GIS database for all bridges. Consequently, the City Commission on Monday approved increasing the contract by $29,350, for a total of $166,550.
Fargo Youth Initiative to Host All-Day Event at City Hall
The Fargo Youth Initiative is announcing Impact Fargo 2024, an all-day event for Fargo high schoolers to learn about how to make an impact on issues that affect youth in our community.
The event will happen Tuesday, October 29, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at City Hall, 225 4th St. N. For more information and to register, visit FargoND.gov/ImpactFargo.
Additionally, the Fargo Youth Initiative, which is open to all Fargo high school students, will be accepting applications for new members through Friday, November 15. To apply, visit FargoND.gov/FargoYouthInitiative and click “Members.”
Deputy Mayor Denise Kolpack, the City Commission’s liaison to the Fargo Youth Initiative, shared these updates during Monday’s meeting.
City Commission Gives Final Approval to Fargo Transportation Plan
The City of Fargo and the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Council of Governments (Metro COG) began a study in 2021 to complete a plan that guides how Fargo designs and constructs the transportation system throughout the city, with all users in mind. The result is the Fargo Transportation Plan, which unifies the policies and goals of other recently adopted plans into one cohesive document.
The Fargo Transportation Plan aims to improve safety and connectivity while providing efficient, context-sensitive guidelines for design. As one example of this, the Plan updates Fargo's standards relating to driveway access and spacing near intersections to create safer environments for all users.
On Monday, the City Commission voted 5-0 to give final approval to the Fargo Transportation Plan, which can be reviewed here.
City Commission Sets Meeting Schedule for 2025
The City Commission meets every two weeks, typically on Mondays at 5 p.m. When a meeting day falls on a holiday, the meeting is held on Tuesday. During Monday night’s meeting, City Commissioners approved their meeting schedule for calendar year 2025:
- January 6 and 21 (Tuesday)
- February 3 and 18 (Tuesday)
- March 3, 17 and 31
- April 14 and 28
- May 12 and 27 (Tuesday)
- June 9 and 23
- July 7 and 21
- August 4 and 18
- September 2 (Tuesday), 15 and 29
- October 13 and 27
- November 10 and 24
- December 8 and 22
Members of the public are welcome to attend City Commission meetings, which are held in Commission Chambers at Fargo City Hall, 225 4th St. N. Residents wishing to comment during a meeting can sign up on The City of Fargo website or by calling 701.241.1310.
Water Utility to Seek Funds to Replace Lead Service Lines
Decades of testing have shown that levels of lead in Fargo’s tap water are well below federal safety standards. To improve tap water safety even further, The City of Fargo is seeking to replace its lead service lines across the city as part of a nationwide initiative. There are approximately 2,500 lead service lines in Fargo that convey drinking water from water mains to homes and businesses.
On Monday, the City Commission voted 5-0 to give approval to Water Utility staff to apply for a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan and grant for lead service line replacement in Fargo.
If the application is successful, Fargo’s Water Utility and its customers could benefit from more than $23 million in grant funding over the next several years. The grant funding, which is available through 2026, is administered by the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality.