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Responsible Fargo. Empowering Fargo residents to advocate for a city government that is representative, transparent, and responsible. Inquiries: [email protected]

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Four former communications leaders are suing Fargo. Their allegations raise serious questions about accountability insid...
10/13/2026

Four former communications leaders are suing Fargo. Their allegations raise serious questions about accountability inside City Hall.

The former employees allege hostile working conditions and a flawed investigation drove their August 2025 resignations.

The federal lawsuit names the city and officials Michael Redlinger, Brenda Derrig, Jill Minette and Beth Wiegman. Its 12 claims include discrimination, retaliation, defamation, unequal pay and due process violations.

The investigation painted department leadership as demeaning and manipulative, citing 16 employee departures since 2018. Now, those investigated are challenging how those conclusions were reached.

They allege accusations were withheld, witnesses overlooked and opportunities to respond denied. Other allegations involve sexual harassment, ignored workplace complaints and a pay disparity corrected only after the affected employee resigned.

The complaint also references a recording of then-Mayor Tim Mahoney criticizing the investigation and accuses former Commissioner Dave Piepkorn of confrontations and prematurely publicizing it. Neither is a defendant.

These allegations have not been proven in court. But residents deserve to understand whether the city handled both the original complaints and the investigation fairly.

What should accountability look like when the process meant to address workplace misconduct becomes the subject of a lawsuit?

Commissioner Michelle Turnberg’s selective outrage over Fargo’s Resource & Recovery Center is comically pathetic and hyp...
10/09/2026

Commissioner Michelle Turnberg’s selective outrage over Fargo’s Resource & Recovery Center is comically pathetic and hypocrisy at its finest.

On September 15, 2025, Turnberg made an impassioned plea to get the Downtown Engagement Center out of downtown immediately. She even suggested temporarily suspending services to accelerate the relocation.

She then voted YES to continue funding engagement services and direct city staff to pursue relocation.

Now, with approximately $1.3 million in city money spent on renovations and fundraising falling embarrassingly short, Turnberg is calling the situation “ridiculous” and “unsustainable.”

You can’t demand immediate action and then pretend you had nothing to do with pushing the process forward.

Why demand urgency without first answering how it would be paid for? Once again, “fiscal conservative” my ass.

Watching an elected official express outrage over a controversy involving a process she personally pushed forward is insulting to taxpayers. It’s the type of selective accountability that makes Fargo residents absolutely sick of City Hall.

Turnberg wants to scrutinize everyone else’s decisions as if she has nothing to do with them herself. Time to look in the mirror.

Fargo just spent $50.6 MILLION rebuilding 32nd Avenue South. After years of construction, detours, disruptions and taxpa...
10/08/2026

Fargo just spent $50.6 MILLION rebuilding 32nd Avenue South. After years of construction, detours, disruptions and taxpayer-funded improvements, the road flooded almost immediately after the project was completed.

You cannot make this stuff up.

Improving drainage was specifically identified as a priority. Engineers knew the area east of University Drive had a history of flooding. Addressing that problem was supposedly part of the massive reconstruction effort.

Yet on September 28, barely a week after the final stretch was scheduled to reopen, more than an inch of rain left vehicles stranded near Hornbacher’s and customers trapped at Woody’s Bar.

Two of the three drainage pumps were out of commission.

City engineers suspect a rope slipped through a trash rack, jammed a pump and tripped a breaker.

So after years of construction and tens of millions of dollars spent, we’re supposed to accept that a piece of rope was enough to compromise drainage in an area already notorious for flooding? Where were the safeguards, and how was this vulnerability not addressed before reopening?

And City Hall’s brilliant solution? Monitor the pumps more closely.

Seriously? That’s the best we can come up with?

Taxpayers endured years of inconvenience and funded a $50.6 million reconstruction, only to watch a known flooding problem return almost immediately.

Were these pumps properly tested? Why were two unavailable? Where were the safeguards and backup systems? Who is responsible for making sure this doesn’t happen again?

Nobody is suggesting all $50.6 million went toward drainage. But when fixing a known flooding problem is an explicit priority, residents have every right to demand accountability when the system fails.

City Hall was more than happy to celebrate another completed project. Perhaps it should spend a little less time congratulating itself and a lot more time explaining why taxpayers aren’t getting the results they were promised.

Fargo residents paid for infrastructure that works, not another multimillion-dollar exercise in excuses.

10/08/2026

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…” — Theodore Roosevelt

Encouraging results for the Downtown Fargo Establishment folks so far at Atonement Lutheran….
10/07/2026

Encouraging results for the Downtown Fargo Establishment folks so far at Atonement Lutheran….

10/07/2026

Whether this passes tonight or not, you have every right to ask questions about the results.

UPDATE: Mark Thelen, identified as treasurer in campaign videos for “Hands Off Fargo,” is serving as an election judge t...
10/06/2026

UPDATE: Mark Thelen, identified as treasurer in campaign videos for “Hands Off Fargo,” is serving as an election judge today at Atonement Lutheran Church in south Fargo.

Hands Off Fargo opposes the special election ballot measure. Thelen was also previously listed as treasurer for Michelle Turnberg’s mayoral campaign. The group’s videos featuring former Mayor Tim Mahoney identify him as its treasurer. See the pinned comment for documentation.

City Hall’s Downtown obsession has gone on long enough. For over a decade, neighborhoods across north Fargo, south Fargo...
10/05/2026

City Hall’s Downtown obsession has gone on long enough. For over a decade, neighborhoods across north Fargo, south Fargo and the city’s core have faced declining properties, struggling business corridors, traffic and public safety concerns. Yet those needs keep taking a backseat to another Downtown subsidy, branding gimmick or taxpayer-funded sales pitch.

Our current at-large structure blurs responsibility and allows elected officials to dodge accountability. Wards would connect every neighborhood with a representative whose job depends on earning its trust. Smaller constituencies would make it easier for residents to question spending, organize around local problems and replace ineffective leadership. Council members would still govern all of Fargo, with every neighborhood represented.

Taxpayers deserve more than another invitation to be ignored. They deserve someone who answers to them. City Hall belongs to all of us.

Vote YES ✔️ on OCTOBER 6!

🗓️ Tuesday, October 6
⏰ Polls open 7:00 AM - 7:00 PM CDT

📍 Atonement Lutheran Church | South Fargo
4601 University Drive S.
🚪 West entrance, Door 8

📍 Fargo Civic Center | Downtown
207 4th Street N.
🚪 Main entrance

📍 FARGODOME | North Fargo
1800 University Drive N.
🚪 Main entrance

🪪 Bring an accepted form of identification. Fargo voters may vote at any of these three locations.

Spread the word. LIKE, SHARE, and VOTE! 🗳️

Opponents of wards keep warning about what might happen. Division. Cost. Dysfunction.Fine. Now look at what has happened...
10/01/2026

Opponents of wards keep warning about what might happen. Division. Cost. Dysfunction.

Fine. Now look at what has happened.

Fargo is carrying roughly $1.3 billion in debt, a figure acknowledged publicly by city officials. In 2025 alone, the Fargo City Commission approved more than $43 million in special assessments affecting 5,097 parcels.

Meanwhile, Fargo continues using Renaissance Zone exemptions, PILOTs, TIFs, and other development incentives. Some projects have combined multiple incentives that stretch on for decades.

We’ve all seen the facts and data on how this has been panning out.

So spare voters the endless hypotheticals.

Debate wards on their merits, but don’t pretend the existing system gets to hide behind speculation.

The current system has a record. Examine it.

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