Scott ‘honored’ to be city administrator finalist
Published 3:26 pm Tuesday, November 10, 2026
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Scott ‘honored’ to be city administrator finalist
Don Harrold, Contributor
David Scott, assistant city administrator of operations for the City of Blair, is one of two finalists to become Blair’s next city administrator. The other finalist is Jessica Quady, who has been Ashland’s city administrator since March 2007.
The city announced the finalists Oct. 28. The search followed the resignation of City Administrator Phil Green. According to a city news release, the final stage of the process includes a day of meetings with city staff, a tour of the city and a final interview with Mayor Mindy Rump for each finalist.
Rump is expected to present her recommendation to the Blair City Council at a regularly scheduled meeting tentatively targeted for Tuesday, Nov. 24. More information is available from Blair City Hall at 402-426-4191 or blairne.gov.
“I’m honored, honestly,” Scott said in an interview with the Enterprise. “I mean, I think there’s two very fine candidates. I don’t know Jessica personally, but I know of her. I mean, we’ve been around in the same conferences and stuff. And her resume is very good. So I don’t think Blair can’t go wrong either way. I think they got two really good people that could do a great job.”
The Enterprise asked what Scott has seen in Ashland that he thinks is good. “I’ve not spent a lot of time there, but I’ve been through there, I can say that,” he said. “And I think their downtown looks very nice. I’ve not patronized any business there in many years because, as you know, I was in Alaska for six years and then in Sidney … It’s been a long, long time since I’ve actually been through Ashland.”
“So my only knowledge of it recently is just being through it … Looks like they’ve had some … They’ve come up with some really inventive ways to make their downtown look very good. So it’s very impressive,” Scott said.
Scott was finance director for the City of Sidney beginning in May 2017 and was later appointed Sidney city manager by the Sidney City Council. The Enterprise asked whether he had been a candidate for a position like this before.
“Last time would have been Sidney,” Scott said. “When I first became interim and my predecessor had retired, I was interim until, I think, from February till June. I was not a candidate when they first went and hired a hiring committee … They actually paid a hiring firm to go out and do this search. And the candidates that they interviewed would interview once with the council and then once with a group of senior staff. And I was actually in that, I was interviewing people.”
“None of those candidates panned out for them, and they decided to kind of just do it a different way and maybe just do it on their own,” he said. “And I did apply then … And then, of course, I wasn’t on the employee committee anymore because I’m a candidate now.”
“But I do remember that, and I do remember having the pictures of the three finalists, and I was one of them,” Scott said. “That was the last time I had been through that probably. Probably the only time that I’ve been through that.”
The Enterprise asked whether Scott or Quady knows which of them has been chosen. “I don’t know,” Scott said. “I think we’re both still very much in the running … As far as I know.”
The Enterprise asked whether the finalists have been told when a decision will be announced. “I really don’t honestly know,” Scott said. “Because I think we just got through the interview process recently.”
The Enterprise asked whether Scott would stay and work for the city if Quady is chosen. “I mean, this is the job I came here to do as the deputy,” Scott said. “I think she’d be a fine candidate.”
The Enterprise asked whether the city administrator job was “that position or bust” for him. “No, no, no. I’m vested. I own property here,” Scott said.
Scott said that if he is chosen, he “would start sooner.” “My guess is most people in those caliber jobs need at least six weeks to two months’ notice, ’cause their contracts will call for that,” he said.
“I’m happy to continue to do — whatever’s best for Blair is what we want, right? That’s what everybody wants,” Scott said.
