Horace mayor on childcare shortage: "I wanted to get an idea of how bad it is"

(Fargo, ND) -- The mayor of Horace says he now has a very specific idea of how badly more childcare is needed in the city. 

"I wanted to kind of get a gauge because we've got so many young people moving in to the city that have younger children.  I wanted to get an idea of how bad it is. I mean it's kind of what it come down to. So I came up with some questions," said Kory Peterson. 

Peterson says the city recently performed a childcare survey among residents and found 38 percent of those polled say they're looking for childcare. Among those, 22 families have been on a wait list for one year, and 30 have been waiting for two years.  Peterson says he, Senator Judy Lee, and state representatives recently met with daycare providers in the city to learn about the challenges they're facing.  Peterson says focusing on daycare will help improve workforce issues.

Peterson discussed the issue during the "State of the Cities" event hosed by the FMWF Chamber of Commerce.