Bismarck mayor won’t seek 4th term in office

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The mayor of North Dakota’s capital city is taking a job with a local university and won’t be seeking a fourth term in office.

Bismarck Mayor John Warford will become the dean of the Gary Tharaldson School of Business at the University of Mary when his term ends in June. He also will work part-time at Warford Orthodontics, the family practice he started.

Warford said he made the decision to step down as mayor before learning of the opportunity at the University of Mary, according to KXMB-TV. He has been mayor since 2002 and said it was time “to pass the baton.”

Warford led Bismarck through Missouri River flooding in 2009 and 2011. City Administrator Bill Wocken told The Bismarck Tribune that Warford also has been particularly effective in improving the business climate in the city that has grown in recent years as the western oil patch has boomed.

“There have been a number of challenges he has dealt with - the unprecedented growth and all the issues that go with that,” Wocken said. “He has done a fine job with that challenge.”