Background
Walaker was born in Fargo in 1941.
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Dennis Walaker
Edit Profilepolitician North Dakota mayor of Fargo
Education
He attended Leonard High School in Cass County, North Dakota and North Dakota State University.
Career
He was elected to a four-year term on June 13, 2006 and took office on June 28, 2006. He was re-elected twice during municipal elections held on June 8, 2010 and June 10, 2014. Walaker was named City"s Public Works Operations Manager in 1989.
The scope of the position was later expanded to include emergency management, forestry, and fleet management.
He gained attention (locally and - on a smaller scale - nationally) in April 1997, while coordinating the city"s efforts to fight the 1997 Red River Flood. After the flooding passed and the city was left mainly dry, Walaker was given some cr for the city"s preparations.
He gained similar notice for coordinating the response to the 2009 Red River flood, issuing an evacuation order at the height of the flood that included only children and the disabled. Walaker died on December 2, 2014 at the age of 73, from kidney cancer.
Membership
Walaker was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition was co-chaired by late Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He was also a member of the Mayors Climate Protection Center, and has been a board member or member of several local, regional, and national organizations, including the Red River Zoo, the Plains Art Museum, the American Public Works Association, the American Water Works Association, the Water pollution control federation, the American Legion, the Sons of Norway, the Hospice of the Red River Valley, and United Way.
