Fargo is Hiring and Growing

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Taking on those challenges is a big city. But you still have oftentimes a small town mentality, which is the community says, fix it. You got to fix it.

What I had to learn is be patient. So oftentimes things that I thought could be done in 30 days take six months. Things don’t move as quickly as you would like them to do.

Good governance, ability to have good conversations about issues that face you and come to a reasonable decision in how to manage that. And what you try to do is manageable. Where I think I call the silent majority. You oftentimes don’t say much to you, but if you do something wrong, they do.

So if I go through shopping and rarely anybody comes up and talk to me, probably doing the right thing. If I go and I have 5 or 6 people come and say, hey, I don’t like what this is doing or what is happening, then I have a sense of I might be going the wrong direction.

David Martin: I have to admit, I don’t know too much about Fargo, North Dakota. So when I got a chance to talk to the mayor, I was interested to hear what’s going on in his city. Honestly, when I think of Fargo, I think about the Coen brothers movie. I did ask them about that and what was going on in Fargo.

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Fargo is a growing city, according to Mayor Tim Mahoney, and as you’ll hear his past in government mail, it’s not typical. He’s actually still a practicing doctor. Listen to what he says about how the jobs actually are similar in some ways. Mayor Mahoney was recently honored by the North Dakota League of Cities. He was this year’s recipient of the Leadership Excellence Award.

He was cited for his work. He was cited for his work in a water supply project, which we talk about. He was also cited for his efforts in the city’s downtown revitalization. The biggest challenge, as the mayor explains, is managing a growing city. He also said Fargo is hiring. He says the city has some 5000 job openings, so if you need a job and a change of scenery, consider Fargo.

Call the mayor to manage the growth. The city says they’re changing housing construction. They’re putting more people in less space. He explains that. And since it’s the only thing I know about Fargo, I did ask about the movie impact on the city. Just listen. So coming up, my conversation with Mayor Tim Mahoney, mayor of Fargo, North Dakota.

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It was called the War to End all Wars but it didn’t. Three royal cousins, all kings, one from England, one from Germany and one from Russia blundered their way into a war, a completely avoidable war that left millions dead in the trenches across Europe. Good government show executive producer Jim Ludlow details the blunders, mistakes and bluster that started World War One that didn’t end all wars.

The book The Royal Cousins details the events and creates an alternative history. Imagine a World War one never happened. It didn’t have to. Just read it yourself. Download the book today on Amazon. It’s just $0.99 and a timely look at history. Welcome to the Good Government show. My guest is Doctor Tim Mahoney, the mayor of Fargo, North Dakota.

Welcome. Welcome, Mr. Mayor. Welcome, doctor Mahoney.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Thank you. It’s great to be on.

David Martin: Thank you. So let’s talk about Fargo. You are the. You are the first mayor from North Dakota I’ve had on the show. What’s happening?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Fargo is a vibrant community that’s been growing. We’ve grown by 20% over the last ten years. We’re up to 133,000 people. We’re metro area of 250,000 people. And in our state, where the largest community that exists. We’ve had good growth, good economics, combination of medicine, education, manufacturing and agricultural. So it has worked well in our community and we have been able to thrive.

David Martin: I don’t know a lot about, about North Dakota and, nor much about about Fargo. You know, you talk about 200,000 people. I live in Brooklyn. That’s that’s my backyard. That’s my neighborhood. What are the challenges that you have there in in managing, sort of a very rural city, kind of far removed from the the spotlight.

How’s that? How’s that for culture? Good. Well, that’s good, thank you. Is that fair?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: That’s fair. I mean, we oftentimes are considered to be a small town. Small town feeling that you’re Brooklyn. You know what? The differences in size. Yes. But what is happening in this is we’re evolving into a metropolitan type area. So what happens is that you have the different challenges crime. You have drugs, you have different things that happen in your community that maybe you weren’t used to before.

Homelessness comes about. The people get about, mental health issues as well. So it’s kind of taking on those challenges of a big city, but you still have oftentimes a small town mentality, which is the community says, fix it. You got to fix it.

David Martin: So is that a challenge in in sort of changing the mindset of the people who live there, who kind of maybe don’t want that big city feel?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes. So what has happened is you began to evolve. The growth is good. We used to complain by our employers who didn’t have enough workers. So the problem was we couldn’t find workers. Now North Dakota is the number one state, an influx of people coming from throughout the United States into our state to work. And then we have a job market.

I have 5000 jobs available in our community. You have 5000.

David Martin: Jobs available in your community. Yes. So if you’re looking for work, have to come to Fargo. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. What are they hiring? What are they doing?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, we have all sorts of things going on. We have second largest Microsoft, company plant in our area. So a lot of entrepreneurs, young people, computer type things. We’re doing autonomous farming. We’re trying to teach autonomous farming. So you take a lot of engineers that play in that field. We have the largest medical center. And as I said, area we it’s the biggest one between Minneapolis and Seattle.

So we have a good medical facility and research that’s going on in there. Aldebaran is a company that helped manufacture the, our DNA, RNA that was utilized for vaccines. So we’ve had a multi growth community that has a lot of different venues that happen. We have oil and gas in the western part of the state, and we are the manufacturing center for that.

You need big tanks. You need big pipes to do it. Handle the oil companies. Sure. So it’s a good mix of a lot of different economic factors.

David Martin: I recall a little bit about this, about, you know, the oil and gas exploration. And for a while you were booming, right? Yes. And that’s sort of backed off a little bit.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, for a while we really boomed. And then I went down for a while, which was catastrophic. But now it’s come back and, I think we do 1.5 million barrels of oil a day or a month. Excuse me. And it’s coming back. We hope with Trump policies it will improve a bit. But there’s a lot of oil and gas in our areas that we can export outside state.

David Martin: And doesn’t that create housing challenges to, you know, for all these workers who are there to have them give them a place to live?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We have initial boom. We’ve had real problems with that in the western part of the state, but a lot of that has been fixed up because they were able then to add housing. Now as it comes back, they have access. I will say that can help take care of that.

David Martin: How is that? You know, one of the biggest challenges across the nation is housing. How are you dealing with that in Fargo?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We need 17,000 housing units in the next ten years. And so we have the same struggles other people have is that we, you know, affordable housing. We need housing for 55 and older, and we can fill that in with any variety of new growth and development. That is is something that I continue to look as a challenge.

David Martin: So what he as mayor, what can you do about that?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We oftentimes will have tax incentives or do different things that might encourage somebody to put a housing unit in our area. We look at increased density so I can put 98 people per acre in a higher density apartment complex. You know, our environment, we used to build three storey apartments. Right now we’re building 4 or 6 story type apartments that we never used to do before.

But structurally, we figure it out how to do it. We’re putting now apartments where you have parking inside the building itself versus on big parking lots. So increased density and increased ability to put more people on one. One area I know in Brooklyn, you know how to do that. But we’re starting to learn vertical is good.

David Martin: Stop by the house. Are you even willing to take a walk around the neighborhood? And it gets cold in Fargo?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes. Our environment is a challenge, but oftentimes it helps us in some ways, because that is something in which people have learned to be resilient in that environment. I mean, we look across the nation where we’re somewhat stable as far as even though it’s cold. We continue to do what we want and have things happening. We live on a very flat lake bed, basically very stable as far as the structures and things that happen on the coast.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We sometimes see the tragedies that go on, but we seem to have, a area in which you can live safely and not have as many environmental catastrophic issues.

David Martin: So I have to ask this question. I’m sorry. You probably bored with it. A lot of people probably know Fargo from the movie. Fargo was did that help or hurt the city?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: I think it helped us get some notoriety that some people kind of wondered, moved on to, what’s it really like? And I’ve always had people walk up to me and kind of talk about the wood chipper and different things that go on, but it it often made it, a name that you weren’t surprised about. And you put your curiosity on.

Yeah. What we see happening in the community is oftentimes, if you come as a visitor into a coffee shop, people will inquire about who you are, what you are, what are you doing in Fargo? And we find it is kind of.

David Martin: A friendly way.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: I have a friendly way.

David Martin: Not like. What are you doing here? Yeah. No. Yeah. Hi. Nice to see you, I hope.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes. And then people like to encourage you. What can we do to help you? So I really like to see that.

David Martin: How long you been mayor?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: 2014.

David Martin: How’s it going? Good.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Good. We have good people. And, the community is wonderful. People want to see things happen.

David Martin: You said you were a surgeon, a doctor. What on earth possessed you to run for mayor? Well, because you didn’t. It’s not like I had a nice, easy, relaxing job.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yeah, it was kind of interesting because they said, you know, you go from conversing with one person, talking them into surgery, and I call it the five minute rule. I meet you and I have to talk you into having surgery. You need your appendix out, your gallbladder or something. Oh, yeah. I’ve got five minutes to convince you that I’m the guy to do it for you, and we got to get it done.

So when I went into public service, it was learning how to talk a group of people. And in a sense, it is somewhat similar. You have to have them try to convince them to see your vision and do the same thing.

David Martin: So this is the good government show and we always want to hear about good government projects. What are you working on?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We’re working on right now drought protection for the city of Fargo. So we’re going to take water from the Missouri River, bring it over, put it in our Cheyenne River, and have the ability to have sustainability. If we have a major drought.

David Martin: How’s it going?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: It’s going good. We’re into a 10% of it. It’s built so far. It’s a 72 inch pipe. It’s huge.

David Martin: Okay.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: And, as it goes across the state and we’re getting funding, this is a.

David Martin: Lot like vascular surgery.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: No, not at all. And then it’s 1.1 billion that we’re working on. So we’re working on federal money as well as state money to get that financed.

David Martin: Was it a challenge for you, being a doctor to suddenly be thrust into, you know, government service and, you know, being a city mayor, a whole different skill set, right?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes, yes. It was. What I had to learn is to be patient. So oftentimes things that I thought could be done in 30 days take six months. Things don’t move as quickly as you would like them to do. And then sometimes you would think you had a brilliant idea and the public didn’t like it at all. So you had that around how to.

Well, education is very important. I find that a lot of times people are fearful of something. You have to explain it to them.

David Martin: Could you give me an example of something that you thought was brilliant, that the city decided wasn’t? There’s a few, but,

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Let me think about that a little bit.

David Martin: Sure. When you came into the office, did you get support right away or was like, oh, let’s see what this doctor could do.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: It took a little while because people were curious where your heart was. That’s what I said when I first ran for office. People were saying, we know you’re educated, Jim, but what are you going to do to us? Because there’s a little worried that you may have ideas that don’t mess with the people. So you have to kind of, work on that.

Early in my office, we were going to move, a, ten commandments. So we had the Ten Commandments monument in our city property. I thought it was a simple thing to move, that you find that people are very attached to the Ten Commandments. It’s all about a thing that I learned on that is you have to listen to people before you say, sure, we can move that.

You have to say, okay, do you want to move it? Are you okay with moving it? So oftentimes you have to learn is what is the beliefs of the people before you make a decision for them.

David Martin: Did you, are the Ten Commandments. Do they ultimately did they get moved?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: They did not get moved. It stayed in the same place.

David Martin: They stay at the same place. What’s the biggest challenge that you faced? You know, as mayor presently.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Now, our challenge is our homeless population trying to figure out what to do with them. Our downtown went from over $150 million, property to a $1 billion property in the downtown area. So it’s entertainment, banks, finance, things going on. And we just had never been faced by the issue of, homeless population drifting into that environment. So it’s trying to figure out how we manage our homeless people.

David Martin: And with the weather that you have, I would imagine that you need to get these people indoors quickly.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: So we I do shelter.

David Martin: From, from like October to like, May.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, come on now. It’s getting better than that.

David Martin: Okay. I, I told you I’ve never been there. Yeah.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We have to shelter 40 to 50 people every night just because of the elements that we have. And, it’s all about 30 years ago, we had somebody freeze to death outside, so we really don’t ever want that to happen.

David Martin: No, of course you tell me about about Fargo that people don’t know surprised me with something about Fargo.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, like, why I have to brag a little bit. Because the bison just won their 10th national champion in football. So that’s our football team, which was the bison. Ndsu. Okay, we’re just in Frisco and now State University. Yes.

David Martin: Okay.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: So we have one of the best, but best teams there as number two is we have a very active entrepreneurs that work and work together. And what I say is they have energy within the community. So what they oftentimes do is when people come in the community, they welcome them and then try to figure out how they can help those people become successful.

David Martin: Are you a lifelong resident of Fargo?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: I moved I’m a newbie into the community. In 1980, I moved into the community in 1980.

David Martin: That makes you.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Knew that at that time, I mean, everybody said the newbies are different than the old the older people that are within the community. But we’ve had, 80% new people come in since 1990 into the community.

David Martin: All right. We’re going to get to your philosophy of government, and that’s going to come up right after this.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Okay.

David Martin: Once you wrap up this episode of The Good Government Show, give a listen to our friends over at Good News for lefties. This daily podcast highlights news stories that show there’s more good news out there. Other people in government are really trying to do the right thing. That’s good news for lefties. Listen, we’re listening now.

After you get done with this episode, hear more good government stories with our friends at How to Really Run a City for mayors. Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Michael Nutter, a Philadelphia, and their co-host, journalist and author Larry Platt talk with guests and other mayors about how to really get stuff done in cities around the nation. Check them out where you’re listening now or through their nonprofit news site, The Philadelphia Citizen.

Dot org slash podcasts. So this is the Good Government Show questionnaire. Don’t start reading the questions. I can see your eyes. Oh. These are spontaneous thoughts. Okay, all right. You’ve been the mayor for ten years. Yes. Ten years. Define good government.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Good governance, ability to have good conversations about issues that face you and come to a reasonable decision in how to manage that. And what you try to do is manage where I think I call the silent majority. You oftentimes don’t say much to you, but if you do something wrong, they do.

David Martin: All right. So how do you judge your success? I mean, elections are certainly one way, but you know, week to week, month to month. How do you know if you’re doing a good job?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: I usually tell it by the way I call the grocery store tour. So when I went to the grocery store, people come up and talk to me. So if I go through shopping and rarely anybody comes up and talk to me, probably doing the right thing. If I go and I have 5 to 6 people come and say, hey, I don’t like what this is doing or what is happening, then I have a sense of, I might be going the wrong direction.

David Martin: You’re out in the community or you’re everywhere.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes, mayor is expected to come into every opening of any new business that goes on in the community.

David Martin: I had a lot of new business openings.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We do have a lot of business opening, so I view that as an opportunity to see what’s happening. Sure. But also you get some feedback as to what they think is happening in the community or what we can do better. So oftentimes when you go to an opening, you’ll find out something about the company you didn’t know or how their growth has been or what they’ve done.

I talked to a gentleman the other day. He moved his headquarters to our community from another community, and I asked him why he did that. Well, he said, Microsoft has these people work for them, and in about ten years, they’re looking for something new to do. And those are the people he was here for his company because then he can plop them into there.

That high tech stuff they’re doing, they’re well versed, ought to do. And then he pays them a high salary. So it’s much easier than him to recruit out of the colleges because they don’t have the experience.

David Martin: Isn’t North Dakota popular as a call center?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes.

David Martin: Explain why.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, is a call center. Oftentimes people are pleasant on the phone, and when they get on the phone, they seem to be reasonable people when they talk to you. All right. Yeah. They don’t have those funny accents. You get somewhere else sometimes. Okay. They have a tendency, I think, sometimes to, you know, as honest people.

David Martin: It isn’t it sort of central to the entire state. Right. Like, yes, our nation.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: So Microsoft’s billing and accounting is it’s in Fargo. So basically we do all the checks for Microsoft. And that’s part of the reason I like that, because we’re a center court of the city of the United States.

David Martin: You know, you talked about going to the grocery store and, you know, people, if they leave you a load of the things are good. What else do you do? I mean, how do you know? You know, when you when you’re finished your week, do you go, I did a good job. Here’s how I know.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: What was funny now is, which I expected the phone would be very busy, but it’s really not your phone. It’s busiest your emails, so you will get emails. And oftentimes my commissioners will make decisions. If they get 20 emails, then maybe it’s something they should think about. If they get only 5 or 6, then nobody’s concerned about it.

And I was very surprised that sometimes people will email you, but they won’t call you.

David Martin: Well, that’s one of the challenges I know you know, from talking with other mayors about social media, it’s easy to spout off on Facebook or, you know, a TikTok or what’s wrong with this guy, but does that bring solutions? You say, well, you know, if you get a lot of emails on the subject, I guess it does, right?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, I mean, oftentimes you can engage. Sometimes you get some good ideas too, because when you engage, you don’t know necessarily the background of the person who’s emailing you. Sometimes they’re knowledgeable enough variety things that help guide you.

David Martin: Okay. How do the people hold you accountable if they’re not getting what they think the government should be delivering?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: So in our community, we vote. You’re going to vote for your mayor every four years. So that kind of elevates typically is in your election. Yeah. But if you don’t do that we also have an open mic for our, our sorry or for our meetings in which you can have somebody stand up and say, hey, here’s what I don’t think you’re doing right.

And, and try to make you more accountable to the issues that you’re doing.

David Martin: Do they hold you accountable?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: I think they hold us accountable. Yeah, I don’t, but I think they’re polite about it. I, you know, some of the time it just gets a little not polite. That’s the only thing that’s difficult. If somebody is rude when they’re in their engagement, I’m trying to tell you what to do. And I think sometimes that’s where we have had some people get a little bit over the top as far as they try to make corrective actions.

David Martin: If people feel like they’re not getting what they want, how would you like them to help? To help the problem?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: So we oftentimes will have open houses, or we’ll have open times in which people can come in. We may make a huge attempt to try to have, committees in which people can put input in the committees. We do a police oversight committee in which people can come and voice complaints about the police department or bring it to the police chief.

We try to do things of which, all are open government, that if there are some issues you have, you have the ability to visit, talk about it and perhaps get some change.

David Martin: And do people get involved?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We do get people involved. We have a lot of people. I have, 22 boards for the city of Fargo at which we get 4 or 5 people on each board, so we have a lot of involvement.

David Martin: So you’ve been mayor for ten years. Were you in city government prior to that?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: So I became a city commissioner in 2005. And so city.

David Martin: Commissioner. Yeah, like city council?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes. Okay. So we have commission, five commissioners, basically mayor being one of them. And it’s a five person board to order nine. We had a flood of record in Fargo. We had the largest flood that ever was in which we had 100,000 volunteers. We made 7 million sandbags. And I was hooked. Then because we went through that disaster, it was just the growth, the the people working together.

You saw the true strength of the community.

David Martin: So do you read about yourself in the news and where do you what news do you get? How do you get your news?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Most of our noses. A local forum is the Fargo Forum is a newspaper that will write things up. Otherwise we’ll see some, documentations from different postings on social media. Yeah.

David Martin: Do you, do you get home delivery of the paper?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Twice a week. Because all we have a paper anymore. So we do it.

David Martin: Twice a.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Week. That’s true. But they print a lot. In, in between time. So. Yeah, I kind of know what I’m doing or not doing according to what they want to say.

David Martin: Do you have a good relationship with the with the press? The local press?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: I think we do oftentimes can they can help us push out messages that we need pushed out there. I think part of what sells, what they like to sell is that I try to find we got you. You did this wrong, Mary. You did something wrong. And I try not to get into it. We got you types of things because it does not set up for good government.

Oftentimes set up distrust.

David Martin: Have you started any programs or to do any like downtown revitalization?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We did do downtown revitalization. So that’s what I was talking about. Property values have gone by $1 billion.

David Martin: So what have a lot of businesses moved into downtown is as downtown changed in Fargo in the last few years.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: So 1990s, it was kind of a dead zone. There wasn’t much going on. It was it just was a place that had some key. And it was not a place I say go down to. Yeah. Over the course of evolution, we put in the Jasper Hotel, which is we call block nine. It’s a hotel and it’s a, ardo, which is a John Deere dealership, and, condominiums are place down in the main square of the city.

We did what we call Renaissance so and so. Renaissance song was an encouragement. What you would get no income tax for five years and no property tax for five years if you improved your building. So that really revitalized the downtown.

David Martin: That’s a that sounds like a very good, good government project.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yeah, it worked very well. And then we do show up.

David Martin: Was your idea?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: It was combination. It came out of state government, but it came out of Fargo. So the previous mayor to me set up the renaissance on. And every time I see him, I say, thank you for that project. That really worked well for us.

David Martin: And what did that bring in.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: That brought in most of our revitalization of the downtown? So that’s why I say is we have.

David Martin: Restaurants, shops.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Restaurants, shops, a lot of women’s shops. So we have more we have, you know, 4 or 5 times more, restaurants. Secondary thing that happened is Ndsu brought down to the downtown.

David Martin: Area State University.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yeah.

David Martin: For those of you who are, North Dakota.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: They brought in the architect school, the business school and what we did realize is that young people like different restaurants. So rather than having high end restaurants, then you’ll have more of your rice shops or your sushi. You’ll have different Chinese shops that the kids like, subway or whatever, that are cheaper for eating. But that’s exactly what you need next thing.

David Martin: So it’s a good but it’s a good mix, right?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yeah. And then we brought more apartments down. So we’re moving 5000 people to the downtown area. And what that does is, as you know, activated. Now we’re more like Brooklyn where you have activation of people walking take you there to here.

David Martin: Fargo is more like Brooklyn.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes.

David Martin: Okay. All right. Good. So who’s your political hero? Did someone inspire you as a as mayor?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: I’ve had a lot of different political heroes. You went to school up in Boston. Always like Kennedy, when he kind of talked about what the Kennedys had done for the areas and people that you don’t. What what did you do for your community or how did you do that? And, just that question asked not what the country can do for you, but what can you do for your country?

Very much. Can you be a servant leader and lead your community to a better place?

David Martin: Did you ever imagine, I mean, you were a doctor first. Did you imagine a career in politics? Did you imagine running for office?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: No.

David Martin: No, never.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: No, I used to kid.

David Martin: You didn’t want to be president?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yeah, I used to do a mission trip to Haiti. We’d go down one week, and it was great fun for a surgeon because we do 50 cases and you get to do all sorts of crazy things in the mission area. But my wife turned to me one day and said, you know, you only do that one week a year.

I said, why don’t you do something locally in your community? So I said, okay, and that’s how I got involved in city government, because yes, you could do a lot in your community to make sport change.

David Martin: So is that really what got you into it is, you know, yes. Your wife said get out of the house.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, that’s part of it. I’m in surgery. Okay. We can do so many things. So I’ve learned laparoscopic robotics done all sorts of different things. Vascular. And you finally get to a point is what else can I learn to do. So it was kind of that mental challenges. Maybe we could try politics and see how that works.

David Martin: How’s it working out?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: It’s worked out great. I very much enjoy it.

David Martin: All right. How, when is it a two year term or a four year term?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Four year term? I termed out in 2026, but hopefully you can get all the things done I want to get done.

David Martin: So you’ve only got a couple more years?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes.

David Martin: Then what?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: We’ll see what comes.

David Martin: Okay.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: I don’t think I want that job. You got a lot of people. You got to try to figure out what to do it.

David Martin: Well, you’re the mayor of the biggest city in the state, right?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes.

David Martin: So I would imagine you have a bit of a statewide profile.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: All right. Yes, I do. All right. You know what?

David Martin: What else? Here are the good government show that you ready for governor?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Know I like our president, governor? He’s very nice guy. You make your line great.

David Martin: I’ve, as I’ve said a couple of times now, I’ve never been to Fargo. I’m coming. What’s the thing everyone has for dinner in Fargo? What’s the meal everybody eats? What’s the. What’s the classic Fargo dish? Where are we going?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, you’re going to get meat and potatoes somewhere, because that’s really what? That’s the love there. Well, you got to get that steak. That’s North Dakota beef. You’ll find out to really enjoy that okay. Although I think you might want to try is our walleye. So walleye is a fish we have locally. That’s fantastic. So if you’re in fish downtown you can get some good seafood.

Or you can go to my steak place and get a great steak.

David Martin: Walleye.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Walleye. Yeah. You haven’t even ever fish for.

David Martin: Walleye I have never fisher walleye. So for grouper Dawson.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yeah, you’re bouncing along the bottom. And when the walleye hits, you know it hits. Yeah. And you just catch it. It’s like, what are some of your big fish out there in the ocean? But, just.

David Martin: Like, just like. Yeah. Walleye in a bar. Fish.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yeah. Must be. Yeah.

David Martin: All right. Are you are you a fisherman?

Dr. Tim Mahoney: I am, yes. Yeah. Do you go out.

David Martin: The other boat or are.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: You, go out and about and fish, see, what you miss is you got to go ice fishing in North Dakota. Okay, so you’re right, I guess that you get to go in a Minnesota lake and drill a hole and stick your, fishing rod down there and and, now, of course, nowadays is not like the old days.

It used to be your little hat, your little ice hat, and kind of do that now, like, oftentimes have you watch football games and fish and enjoy your whole, all your different activities is one of the new types of trailers.

David Martin: So you’re an ice fisherman.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes. As well. Yes.

David Martin: You got a fish. You’re out. All right, so walleye and steak. Yes. This is the good government show. We always like to bring it back to good government. Give me an example of a good government project that you were able to shepherd through.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, what we did is, we set up some different projects that helps in getting more housing. So the projects we’ve had to help to get affordable housing for 55 and older have oftentimes working with partners to build those apartments. And I love going down to the one that we have, the downtown area and visiting with the clients in the lobby area.

And all of them, you know, oftentimes will be a widow from a farm that’s outside the community that came into our community, and this is the place where she’s staying. But it’s just like, oh, that’s good government. You built a nice, affordable housing for people, and they very much appreciate it.

David Martin: Now, I was just about to close, but then I looked at your card that you had on me, and it says the City of Fargo. Farmer explained that.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Well, we think we’re far more because our services we give are just exactly that. So whenever you come at our community, we feel that you’ll be wowed by the ability of my employees and how they take care of our streets, get rid of the snow, do the things they have to do to make the experience wonderful.

David Martin: So Fargo, the city of Fargo far more, far more, far more than Fargo.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Yes.

David Martin: Well, Doctor Tim Mahoney, the mayor of Fargo, North Dakota, thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to meet you. And a pleasure to talk about Fargo. Thanks for coming.

Dr. Tim Mahoney: Thank you. We are far more.

David Martin: All right. Far more in Fargo. I want to hear more about good government. Check out another show I host leading Iowa. Good government in Iowa’s cities. I host the show with Brad Cavanaugh, mayor of Dubuque, Iowa, and the immediate past president of the Iowa League of Cities. Together, we talk to leaders in Iowa cities. We talk about what works and what good government looks like in Iowa.

Joining us right here. We listening now that’s leading Iowa. Good government in Iowa. Cities.

The people of Fargo are resilient. I guess they have to be living in a city where the average January temperature only reaches a high of about 18 degrees. That’s cold. Mayor said he had to learn to be patient. That’s the sign of good government waiting and listening and learning on the job. I liked his definition of good government having good conversations and coming together to make good decisions.

And I check before this show is Eric. North Dakota State just won the Missouri Valley Conference title. They were undefeated last time I checked, they won ten national championships. As the mayor says, go Bisons! Now, I hope the next time mayor has to stop into the grocery store, no one talks to him. That means he’s doing all right.

Well, that’s our show. Thanks for listening. Please like us and share this with your friends and all of us right here where you’re listening. Check out our website. Good government show.com for extras. Help us keep telling stories of good government in action everywhere. Join us again for another episode right here. I’m Dave Martin and this is the Good Government show.

The Good Government show is a Valley Park production. Jim Bardo, Dave Martin, that’s me and David Snyder are the executive producers. Our show is edited and produced by Jason Sterling. Please subscribe then share and like us and reviews. That’s the best way to make sure we’re able to keep telling these stories of our government working for all of us.

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**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.