East Grand Forks City Administrator David Murphy to resign from position for a job in St. Joseph, Minnesota
Feb. 20—EAST GRAND FORKS — After nearly a decade as city administrator in East Grand Forks, David Murphy has announced his resignation.
His last official day will be April 21.
Murphy, who became city administrator in September 2013, has accepted the city administrator position in St. Joseph, Minnesota. Murphy said St. Joseph presents an "interesting opportunity," similar to what he worked with when he was city administrator in Belle Plaine, Minnesota, prior to coming to East Grand Forks.
"They're going to be growing pretty quickly and I do have some experience with that in Belle Plaine, which doubled in size in the time that I was there," Murphy said. "It's a very interesting and exciting city that I'm going to, but it was difficult because there's a lot of things here I'm going to miss."
Murphy said he has enjoyed working with people not only in East Grand Forks, but also in Grand Forks.
"I really do enjoy the people that I work with," he said. "It's been a lot of fun working with our counterparts across the river. The councils here have been very good to work with. There are a lot of things I'm going to miss here about this position and this opportunity."
Among them, he said, is the atmosphere between East Grand Forks and Grand Forks — such as the Greenway and entertainment options at the Empire Theatre and Alerus Center.
"Getting outside of the metro area or Fargo, you don't really have a lot of that kind of opportunity," he said.
Throughout his time as administrator, Murphy has worked on a variety of projects. One of the biggest is the partnership with Grand Forks for the wastewater interconnection. Murphy said the project won an award because of the work completed between both cities, which have different regulations since they're in different states.
Murphy said he's also excited about progress being made on the inter-city bridge, proposed to be built between East Grand Forks and Grand Forks. Although it's still just in the planning stages and a location has not been determined, both councils recently approved an agreement with SRF Consulting Group, Inc., to handle the scoping phase for the inter-city bridge, as well as one proposed on Merrifield Road.
Sharing a border with North Dakota has presented "unique opportunities and challenges," he said, with the different rules and regulations for both states.
"There are things you can do and things you can't do," he said.
Some of those differences include issues related to housing prisoners and sales tax.
Council members are expected to accept his resignation during the Feb. 21 City Council meeting. Murphy said that, generally, a city the size of East Grand Forks will seek an interim city administrator until the position is filled.
"It could take several months to advertise, do the hiring process and get a new administrator in place," he said.
