Fargo appoints Susan Thompson as interim finance director

FARGO — Smoothing troubled waters, the city of Fargo has appointed Susan Thompson as interim finance director following the recent firing of her predecessor.

The Fargo City Commission on Monday, June 12, unanimously elected to appoint the current assistant finance director to steer the ship until the city hires a permanent finance director.

Thompson was hired by the city just two weeks ago for the assistant job, but spent nearly 25 years prior to that as the finance director for the Fargodome.

Mayor Tim Mahoney said Thompson will be of great assistance as the city goes through their 2024 budgeting process. “She’s a great addition to our team,” he said.

She also had the support of City Administrator Michael Redlinger for the position.

“She… was a pretty integral partner in our budget process, as we were developing the 2023 budget last year,” Redlinger said. “I know that she’s going to hit the ground running here for us… and make sure that we bring the 2024 budget to the finish line.”

The search for a permanent replacement starts in July, according to commission documents, when the city will convene a panel of staff and commissioners to interview prospective candidates.

In the meantime, the city is still accepting applicants for the role on their

website

through the end of June, according to Chief Communications Officer Gregg Schildberger. The listed salary for the position is $141,211 to $183,560 each year.

Former Finance Director Terri Gayhart was fired last month after the city’s internal investigation uncovered allegations such as name-calling and gender bias that had employees “dreading” coming into work each day.

The 41-page report from the city of Fargo found among other things that Gayhart lacked core leadership competencies, failed to support the finance team as a leader of the department and had a pattern of alienating and avoiding certain individual team members with whom she had conflict.

I cover the politics beat – come see me at a local government meeting sometime. I’m also the night reporter on weeknights. 👻