Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert announced that City Councilor Arik Forsman has been selected as his mayor pro tem, or acting mayor.

A mayor pro tem serves as acting mayor for shorter mayoral absences as needed.

Councilor Forsman had formally served a similar role for former Mayor Emily Larson and said the only difference this time around was that it was made formal.

When asked about what Forsman has the power to do, Reinert says, “Well, ideally he’ll do nothing, because we’ll have thought ahead a four day absence that covers part of a weekend that is not going to be significant to our city’s operations.”

Both Forsman and Mayor Reinert cited the Mayor’s obligations as a Naval reservist as a situation where Forsman may need to fulfill his duties.

Mayor Reinert said that they’d be able to plan for these absences and continued to say that ideally Forsman wouldn’t have to do anything and that there would be no impact on city operations.