Moorhead City Council

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Sebastian McDougall, Ward 4

Sebastian McDougall was appointed to serve the unexpired term of Ward 4 representative Steve Lindaas at Monday’s meeting of the Moorhead City Council.

McDougall was one of six residents who submitted applications to fill Lindaas’s term. The current councilman resigned as of Aug. 31 to accept a year-long science and technology fellowship in Washington, D.C., awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

McDougall will serve through Dec. 31, 2024, the balance of the term to which Lindaas was elected in 2020. His swearing-in will be the first item on the agenday of the council’s Sept. 11 meeting.

McDougall and the other five applicants for the position –  Trenton Gerads, Ryan Larson, Darren Opsahl, Andrew Rockhold and Dorothy Suomala – met with council members in July to talk about their priorities and answer questions. Several council members said they had followed up individually in the intervening weeks to learn more about the candidates.

Deb White led off the discussion with an endorsement of Gerads, the director of the Cass Clay Community Land Trust, citing his involvement in pursuit of affordable housing. However, her motion to seat him failed on a vote of 3 to 4, with Laura Caroon and Heather Nesemeier voting with her.

Councilman Chuck Hendrickson cited McDougall’s knowledge of the “many pieces” of the city’s operations as a member of the the Moorhead Park and Rec Advisory Board since 2019 and the Moorhead Public Service Commission since 2020. Ryan Nelson brought up his volunteer involvement in many youth activities.

Hendrickson moved to appoint him to represent Ward 4. His nomination passed on a vote of 6 to 1, with only councilwoman White voted against it.

McDougall is the owner of Waters Edge Consulting and a sales consultant with MyBudgetFile Inc., a cloud-based budgeting system for school districts.