Jul. 19—EAST GRAND FORKS — Preparations are underway to transition the Grand Forks-East Grand Forks Metropolitan Planning Organization to new leadership as current Executive Director Stephanie Halford prepares to leave.
“I take a lot of pride in my position. I want it to be a smooth transition of passing a baton and I’m in the position to do that,” Halford said. “(My family is) 20 hours away, so just with a young family and as you see them get older, we want to be closer to family.”
Halford has led the MPO since 2022, taking over for previous Director Earl Haugen. Halford first started as a planner in the MPO in 2012 before becoming a planner for the city of Grand Forks. Now, Halford is preparing to move to Grand Junction, Colorado.
As MPO director, she has led the creation of the 2050 transportation plan and the creation of Greater Grand Forks’ Safe Streets for All plan.
She’s originally from Salt Lake City.
“This is 100% moving to be closer to family; that’s how we want to raise our family,” Halford said. “(Grand Junction) is similar in size and population and I’m glad that’s happening because I really enjoyed the size (of Grand Forks).”
Halford officially will leave her role in mid-September. She’ll physically work from the MPO’s offices in East Grand Forks City Hall until Tuesday, July 22, and then work remotely until her departure date.
A committee composed of City Council representatives on the MPO’s Executive Board has been formed to hire the next director, similar to what happened the last time the position was open. The application is being advertised, and a decision may be made by the committee sometime in August.
Halford is only the second director of the MPO since it was formed in the 1980s and it came out from under the city of Grand Forks. The Grand Forks-East Grand Forks MPO was formed in 1982 after Greater Grand Forks reached the population threshold to become a metropolitan area.
A requirement of federal law, the MPO’s biggest task is to coordinate transportation planning across the metropolitan area and facilitate the long-range plans that guide projects and growth. That means coordinating efforts with both cities, both counties, both states and the federal government.
“It’s bringing all those voices and different partners and community parts of what transportation means to the table and making sure we’re on the same page,” Halford said. “It’s not all about cars and it’s not all about bikes. It’s all the modes and making sure they’re complementing each other.”
Halford leaves as the MPO-led Safe Streets for All plan nears the finish line. The plan stems from a $400,000 grant received from the U.S. Department of Transportation to create an action plan and identify projects across Greater Grand Forks for traffic safety. Final approval is expected in late July to early August. Halford
said that it’s one of the biggest projects she’s helped complete.
“I’ll look back at a great thing that we did here together that we didn’t go small, we went big,” Halford said. “We had big dreams and big things that we saw for our community and made sure that we got the things we did out of that study.”
Halford doesn’t have her next steps formalized for when she moves to Grand Junction, but expects to continue her work in public service.
“I’ll be somewhere serving the community in some way, even if it’s as simple as a PTA,” Halford said. “That’s just who I am — helping a community grow in a healthy way. That’s just always been the basis of what I do.”