Fargo Elections Summer 2022

(This page being updated as responses are received. Not all candidates have confirmed receipt.)

In just a few weeks, Fargo will be voting for a new mayor, city commissioners, and additional leaders for our city and region. Read here of candidates who participated in a questionnaire of how they perceive improving sustainable efforts to Fargo.

(candidates listed alphabetically.)


Below is a copy of the request sent to Fargo Mayoral and City Commissioner candidates sent Sunday May 15th.

Dear Candidate,

Thank you for your interest in governing our city. I am writing to you on behalf of C.L.E.A.N., a local non-profit whose mission includes accelerating the transition to a more sustainable energy infrastructure.

We are seeing unprecedented global climate change. Here in Fargo, among other weather changes, we are seeing hotter summers, increasing the demand for air conditioning. We know this because Cass County Electric is now seeing peak electricity demand in the summer rather than the winter. Extreme weather events will continue to escalate, creating harsher economic impacts.To prevent these impacts we need to do everything we can to achieve a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

Fargo and all communities need to be part of the solution to the climate crisis. We need to act now to do our part. 

  1. What are your plans or ideas to address the climate crisis?
  2. Vehicles are a source of CO2 emissions in our city that can be mitigated and new technology has made these much more practical. Would you advocate for a transition to electric vehicles and how do you imagine this can be done?
  3. What will you do to make clean energy more accessible for citizens and businesses to use? 
  4. What will you do to encourage that city and residential buildings are energy efficient?

We would appreciate your response by May 20th. We will share your responses via our Facebook page and website, so our members can make an informed decision when voting June 14. Thank you for your time and participation. 

Sonja Kaye

Chair of C.L.E.A.N.


 

Fargo Mayor Candidates 2022

CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
  1. What are your plans or ideas to address the climate crisis? I would seek your advice and cooperation to address the climate crisis, but here are some of the things I am definitely going to pursue.
    • Immediately electrify all of the city vehicles, including city buses, and seek cooperation from the school districts to do the same. Hopefully we can have one central bus depot, repair, and maintenance team. Saving a lot of money, and reducing
    • Implement code changes to require meeting passive house standards (similar to ‘reach codes’ used by some municipalities, except make it the standard code for buildings), with a period of training and preparation, but implementing it to the full standard immediately (I don’t see a lot of value in incremental changes here, its best to prepare people for meeting the highest reasonable standard and then do it.)
    • Supporting forward looking developers, like Authentic Housing, rather than backward looking developers who rinse and repeat outdated building techniques, and encouraging all existing developers to adopt current generation technology for the health, safety, and climate benefits. This includes encouraging car-lite developments, more walkable developments/neighborhoods, better public transit, and car share/ride share programs.
    • Put together a task force of people from your organization and other relevant professionals to look into our ability to ensure Xcel Energy and Cass County Electric are meeting climate goals, and if possible pursue a municipal utility or work with the Moorhead Municipal utility to help us meet our climate goals more easily and create an additional revenue stream for the city (without changing the burden of already expensive energy bills).
  2. Vehicles are a source of CO2 emissions in our city that can be mitigated, and new technology has made these much more practical. Would you advocate for a transition to electric vehicles and how do you imagine this can be done? I would not advocate for a transition, I would begin the transition immediately. Again I would seek advice from CLEAN and others, but I would start by:
    • implementing a city-wide electric car share with all the necessary charging infrastructure, which can be used by non-car share cars as well
    • Utilizing incentives to build walkable neighborhoods, car-lite developments, public transit friendly developments/neighborhoods, and to provide onsite or nearby parking sites for electric car-share cars.
    • Help Uber and Lyft drivers join the Drivers Cooperative so that they can earn all the money that is collected from riders, and make it easy for them to quickly transition to using 100% electric vehicles through several mechanisms that we can develop together.
  3. What will you do to make clean energy more accessible for citizens and businesses to use?  Everything above, and in addition provide friendly financing options for clean energy and/or offer to pay rent for roof spaces to place solar PV in as many places as possible so long as there is a reasonable payoff for the city.
  4. What will you do to encourage that city and residential buildings are energy efficient? We won’t be able to encourage our way to the right behavior. We need to make it standard with adjustments to the building code. Every building, every home, should meet the Passive House Standard at least. Examples from around the country have shown that although often in the first year or two costs are higher, they generally come back into alignment and end up costing the same or less than the current standard code. We can have a transition plan and train all the builders and developers in the area, but we must change the code to ensure all buildings are as energy efficient as possible.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.

Thank you C.L.E.A.N. non-profit for this opportunity to share my perspectives on more sustainable energy infrastructure for Fargo. I don’t see global climate change unprecedented as you say. There is a lot of false information on this subject and I do see we need to protect the planet and be good stewards of the earth, we don’t need to act with fear of the future and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. It just is not possible.

  1. What are your plans or ideas to address the climate crisis?

    Here is what I do know. The climate will change whether we do something or not. It is not in our control and never will be. God is in control of our lives and the earth. The earth is His and everything in it. We need to be responsible and act responsibly to live a healthy and abundantly with green infrastructure by taking care of the land with sustainable ways to produce our food and care for our bodies for our well-being.

    Small farming could be the answer. According to Curtis Youngs, associate director of the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods at Iowa State University says, small farming could be key. He says, fields of less than one hectare (2.47 acres) represents 70 percent of the estimated 600 million farms in the world. Some experts say this could be the key factor increasing global food production and mitigating supply chain disruptions. Fargo needs to invest in green building and infrastructure for the beauty it creates and the benefits of creating family farms in Fargo for production practices that enable to target specialty niche markets from across the country to live and bring their livelihood here, to produce a- farm -to - table concept those other cities are already doing to live more clean lives. Also, we need to plant more trees and protect the heritage trees, older trees we have. An article written in the Epoch Times “Texas Company Proposes Massive CO2 Capture Pipeline in the Midwest” that is us. And it is a pipe dream. A retired Chemical Engineer in Tennessee responded, he indicated this is taking extreme measures with projects like these the earth’s atmosphere would be depleted of the oxygen we need for life and it would be dangerous to our very existence. Plant life needs CO2 to grow, and the photosynthesis process releases the oxygen back into the atmosphere for breathing life to breathe. The reported capacity of 15 million metric tons of CO2 will remove and sequester 10,909,090 tons of oxygen needed for life to breathe. The title of the article is “CO2 Capture is a Fool’s Errand”

  2. Vehicles are a source of CO2 emissions in our city that can be mitigated, and new technology has made these much more practical. Would you advocate for a transition to electric vehicles and how do you imagine this can be done?

    Yes, vehicles are a source of CO2 and we can move to electric vehicles slowly. All things in moderation. Let people make the choices for themselves. Do not push people to change from gas vehicles until they are ready to do so. My desire is to start with our City of Fargo’s transit to be electric and have routes within the cities that are surrounded by quality public spaces for people to walk to the transit stop. Jeff Speck, The Walkable City, explains, good transit relies absolutely on walkability. Also, invest in new transit that are compact, comfortable and charming so people want to take the bus.

  3. What will you do to make clean energy more accessible for citizens and businesses to use? 

    I don’t think it so much as creating clean energy as it is to having better land management practices to breathe clean air. It starts in the home. Teach our children to be responsible, plant trees, recycle and do community service, it gives children a sense of pride for their community and want to take care of it.

    We need to have a Future Land Use Map for where we want development in the city and where we do not. It’s time to live in harmony with the natural environment. Green infrastructure is a definite must for the well being of our citizens in Fargo. First, build the greens space before building districts, the roofs and walls. Construction firms in in the city need to stop cutting down trees around a construction site because they don’t want to take the means to protect them. Also consider craftmanship and aesthetics by applying principles of sustainability that promotes a sense of place for the community. Mike Jacobs said it best written in the Forum:

    Most of the tall grasses that once blanketed the Red River Valley is gone. Land management practices can restore and maintain habitat... for birds such as the Meadowlark to stay in our area.

    The birds need to have the habitat it once had to live and thrive in the area and so do we.

  4. What will you do to encourage that city and residential buildings are energy efficient?

    My desire is to create green space competitions, encourage LEED certification building decorum, and build with green source materials and sustainable building materials. Here are some examples from the website www.dumpsters.com

    1. Bamboo
    2. Reclaimed Wood
    3. Cork
    4. Mycelium
    5. Ferrock
    6. Sheep’s Wool
    7. Recycled Steel
    8. Low E-Windows

As Mayor of Fargo, it is my desire to create a better city by living in harmony with the natural environment and build with green infrastructure for its beauty and its sustainability for the planet.

Thank you and God bless you.

Sheri Fercho – Candidate for Fargo Mayor

Thanks for the email. We are working on the Sustainability Resiliency Committee to address many of the issues you brought up. We have already done a lot of work in the area and working through solutions to address the climate crisis. We have included the schools and parks so we can work together. Ben Dow, Director of Public Works is looking into electric vehicles and how they will work in our community. We have set up electric refueling stations at City Hall and RoCo Parking garage. At the land fill we capture methane gas and convert it so we can get an energy source and sell it. We are working with both our utility companies in working with businesses and residential buildings.

The Land Development Code is looking at ways to address home building as well which are more efficient and leave less of a carbon imprint. We are working with HBA on energy efficiency as well. We just contracted with a company to measure carbon in our city and check out our buildings and then give us a report on how we can do it better. We are looking into long term sustainability for Fargo so we are happy to work with you on this.

Mayor Tim

  1. What are your plans or ideas to address the climate crisis? Fargo, along with so many other communities, are experiencing the effects of the climate crisis. Our extreme wet cycles and dry cycles impact the ability for families to live here in a safe and comfortable environment. This is such a huge problem, impacting the entire globe, and so it seems overwhelming at times. However, we can participate in turning this around in our small part of the world. We can start by making communities more walkable, getting people out on bikes for transportation, more dense development which decreases the need for jumping in a car to run the smallest errands. We can encourage the use of electric vehicles by making a plan to ensure charging stations are prolific. City-owned vehicles should transition to electric as they are replaced, including buses. Incentivizing the building of energy-efficient buildings. Encouraging green rooftops.
  2. Vehicles are a source of CO2 emissions in our city that can be mitigated, and new technology has made these much more practical. Would you advocate for a transition to electric vehicles and how do you imagine this can be done? We need to have charging stations as common as gas stations. The City can provide the lead by putting in place a purchasing policy for electric vehicles. We have been purchasing hybrid vehicles, but perhaps the technology has improved. The purchase of electric buses could be examined. All this would provide awareness in the City for other residents to follow that lead.
  3. What will you do to make clean energy more accessible for citizens and businesses to use? Develop incentives for individual homeowners to install solar panels. Tie business incentives to the requirement that the project incorporate clean energy.
  4. What will you do to encourage that city and residential buildings are energy efficient? We are in the process of re-writing the land development code. I’m not entirely sure, but that may be a place to address this.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.

Fargo City Council Candidates 2022

CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
  1. What are your plans or ideas to address the climate crisis? I will continue to support the following current efforts underway by the Fargo City Commission and employees:
    • The completion of the Diversion to protect our city and economy from floods, a direct result of climate change;
    • The completion of the Red River Supply project, again a direct result of climate change;
    • The collection of our landfill gas,along with its reuse;
    • The plans to rebuild our landfill within EPA regulations to ensure we have a sustainable landfill/capacity for another 40 years;
    • Continued total recycling program, that has reduced our landfill garbage by 30% annually; I also support more intentional communication to residents about the importance of recycling in our community;
    • Like we did at the landfill, add solar panels to any new city buildings; Supporting the completion of our wastewater treatment plant, including all of its integrated efficiencies;
    • Expanding the uses of our wastewater to other commercial industries and municipalities;
    • Continuing the addition of electric and hybrid vehicles to our city fleet.
    Lastly, I support refreshing the Fargo 2030 Plan, with a focus on energy efficiency, together with an intentional strategy and timeline for tactical implementation.
  2. Vehicles are a source of CO2 emissions in our city that can be mitigated, and new technology has made these much more practical. Would you advocate for a transition to electric vehicles and how do you imagine this can be done? The Fargo 2030 study was a robust effort to address climate change and prepare a long-term strategy, but I believe with the focus on our Diversion, and other city priorities, it has stalled. I would support refreshing that study with objective, outside consultants, to create an actionable strategy with a timeline to, over time, begin an intentional effort to install EV charging stations across our city. In addition, as stated above, I would continue to support the city adding electric/hybrid vehicles to its fleet.
  3. What will you do to make clean energy more accessible for citizens and businesses to use? We need to look at all of our incentives we provide to businesses and residents, and include incentives as part of the offerings for solar panel installation with the approach of “how we can make it happen,” rather than “this is why we cannot make it happen.”
  4. What will you do to encourage that city and residential buildings are energy efficient? As a commissioner, I will always review any new building requirements and plans to ensure they include as many efforts as possible for energy efficiency and long-term sustainability.
  1. What are your plans or ideas to address the climate crisis? In my vision platform, I have a few realistic ideas that can be implemented within 2 years.
    1. More investment into solar panels for city electrical functions. This should be a no brainer, and also incentivize residents and businesses to implement such technology.
    2. Explore small wind turbines Micro turbines are the easiest option I see, for maximum assistance with the grid.
    3. Promote roof top/urban gardening Why lean on imports when we can grow them right on our roofs! Less imports, less driving.
  2. Vehicles are a source of CO2 emissions in our city that can be mitigated, and new technology has made these much more practical. Would you advocate for a transition to electric vehicles and how do you imagine this can be done? New technology can be used to mitigate CO2 emissions but should they at this present time? I try to look at both sides of the coin, and personally, I am in favor of both gas and electric vehicles on the street.
    1. We cannot force people to utilize electricity, but we can provide charging ports throughout the city, and in our parking garages in DT.
    2. I feel most cars/trucks the city uses will be able to be transitioned to electric, but with the shortage in product and the cost rising, I feel that this will be a more long-term goal.
    3. When we are developing new regions of our city, we need to make sure there is walkability. With amazon having a distribution center here, I see potential in utilizing amazon grocery stores throughout the city or where a food desert has been identified.
  3. What will you do to make clean energy more accessible for citizens and businesses to use?  I believe that clean energy will need to be a choice for each resident. The city will need to investigate the research done in other cities where residents and businesses have chosen clean energy over other forms of energy. Our city needs to be frugal with our time and funds, so we need to be direct and intentional with what we choose to make accessible.
  4. What will you do to encourage that city and residential buildings are energy efficient? From my experience with Authentic Housing, I thought they had a fantastic structure they wanted to bring to Fargo. Recently, I learned from the AH that they will no longer look to build in Fargo in the future. This saddened me to hear, but I think Fargo and look to bring in energy efficient builders and network them to developers in the area to make educated and learned decisions when they develop in Fargo.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
  1. What are your plans or ideas to address the climate crisis? "My main goal is to build a fully renewable and sustainable energy grid. This grid would allow for every building in the city to not only be able to consume electricity but also produce it while also having on sight storage. Electric Vehicles then would be huge batteries on wheels that allow for the storage of large quantities of power. We could then sell excess electricity to other municipalities just like we do with our water."
  2. Vehicles are a source of CO2 emissions in our city that can be mitigated, and new technology has made these much more practical. Would you advocate for a transition to electric vehicles and how do you imagine this can be done? "I would be a huge advocate for switching to electric vehicles. They would be a huge key to my energy grid plan. I think it's the cities responsibility to build the infrastructure that makes EVs viable. We need to build that infrastructure so that people can make the decision to go electric without a huge inconvenience on themselves. We could also incentivize people switching out to EVs or even inventivize dealerships to sell EVs over combustion engines."
  3. What will you do to make clean energy more accessible for citizens and businesses to use?  "The renewable energy grid would make clean energy easily accessible. We know that solar can produce more than enough cheap electricity to get the job done, it's mostly about storage of excess electricity and the metering of it across a big grid. The city can install the needed infrastructure to create this grid and get clean energy to people and businesses."
  4. What will you do to encourage that city and residential buildings are energy efficient? "We can update the building code standards to require buildings be more energy efficient. This could in the short term create some friction but very quickly builders will learn that it's actually economically better to build more energy efficient buildings. Sometimes all it takes is updating of the rules and a flood of new design strategies start to be implemented. This is my hope, that with the right regulations, energy efficiency will become the default and not something we need to strive for, but somthing we get inherently by default."
CLEAN is awaiting a response from this candidate.
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