Now that the election over, the Fargo’s city commissioners decide to behave like adults
MINOT, N.D. — Back in May, with hotly contested mayoral and city commission races on the ballot, the Fargo City Commission raked Roers Construction over the coals after the company requested an adjustment to their tax increment finance deal with the city.
With Mayor Tim Mahoney looking on, commissioner Dave Piepkorn threw a tantrum , repeatedly accusing company owner Jim Roers (who is also a Republican state senator) of being a liar.
That Rep. Shannon Roers-Jones — who serves in the state House as a Republican and is also legal counsel for her father Jim’s company — was one of Mahoney’s opponents for mayor shouldn’t be overlooked.
What Roers was seeking was an adjustment to the timeline of the TIF deal.
His company hadn’t yet built a promised row of townhouses to serve as a screen between other commercial and denser residential development and the single-family homes in the Roosevelt neighborhood. Roers blamed traffic congestion at the site, as well as the unusual circumstances of the pandemic and spiking construction costs, which is not unreasonable. He wanted more time to complete the construction and also payout on the TIF deal for the parts of the project that were completed.
