During the Monday, Oct. 15, 2018, meeting of the West Fargo City Commission, commissioners voted unanimously to appoint Dustin Scott, registered professional engineer, to the position of West Fargo’s first-ever city engineer. Scott was selected out of a field of 13 applicants.

Scott, a native of West Fargo and a graduate of the University of North Dakota, has provided the City of West Fargo with municipal engineering services for the past 10 years through his employment with Moore Engineering, Inc. Scott’s most recent work for the city has included advising and leading engineering efforts, providing engineering perspective, guidance and recommendations to city leadership and elected officials, developing and enforcing city standards and policies and involvement with important city, metro and regional topics, such as major infrastructure projects, the core area infrastructure study, comprehensive planning, Main Street Initiative, growth area development, Fargo-Moorhead Metro COG long-range transportation plan and F-M Diversion coordination.

Of the 13 applicants the city received, three possessed the appropriate education, qualifications, experience and skills needed for the position. A panel of six City of West Fargo elected officials and staff interviewed each of the three applicants with a standard set of questions and scoring system. During his interview, Scott demonstrated a clear understanding of the city’s engineering needs and ability to lead a new department. Based on the scoring, Scott was selected by the panel to recommend to the city commission. With the commission’s approval, Scott officially accepted the position.

The City of West Fargo had contracted with Moore Engineering, Inc. for 55 years to manage the city’s municipal engineering needs – a common practice for smaller communities. However, during the 2019 budget process the city set a goal of creating an in-house engineering department because of the city’s phenomenal population growth since 2000. Hiring Scott as the city’s first full-time city engineer is the first step. Next, a support engineering technician will be hired in 2019. Scott’s position begins Oct. 29, 2018. His appointment also replaces Moore Engineering, Inc., as the city’s engineer.