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John Peabody, it was Walaker, Mahoney and City Administrator Pat Zavoral who once again took center stage.
• Each of them takes on a different role in flood season. In corporate terms, Walaker is chief executive officer, Zavoral is chief operating officer, and Mahoney is vice president of marketing and communications.
• "Pat has his connections, Denny has his connections, I have my connections," Mahoney said. "It works pretty well."
• Walaker, 72, the city's former public works director, is clearly the voice of Fargo, for better or worse. During the 2009 flood, Walaker denied a request by federal authorities to evacuate the city because he thought the crest estimate was overstated. He was right.
• During this year's flood, he bristled at complaints that the city should have waited before ordering emergency levees, even though the National Weather Service warned of a record-setting event.
• "They all become experts," Walaker said. "You can't believe how many times I get stopped throughout the day by people who tell me the water is not going to get to a certain level."
• A zealous advocate not only for the city but for a proposed $2 billion Red River diversion project, Walaker has angered opponents of the channel and some state lawmakers with comments that upstream residents found to be callous. Zavoral returned from one legislative hearing with a message for mayor, who had made a half-dozen trips to Bismarck.
• "They told Pat they didn't want to see me out there again," the mayor said.
• Fargo Republican Sen. Tony Grindberg, who worked on securing $450 million from the state for the diversion, said it was a difficult issue that needed compromise.
• "His heart is in the right place," Grindberg said of Walaker. "Folks need to work together and that includes spending time working through the differences with the upstream coalition as well."
• This leads to Zavoral, 65, whose father was a civil service director who led a major flood fight in East Grand Forks, Minn., in 1966. He works behind the scenes during each flood to keep city departments on track and sets the agenda for each day. He said he leaves it up to Walaker, Mahoney and other elected officials to "make the tough decisions."
• Zavoral also has acted as mediator for diversion discussion and carried the issue for the city, Walaker said. In the end, Zavoral and Diversion Authority Chairman Darrell Vanyo were left lobbying for the channel, which still needs federal authorization before it can move forward.

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