By a 7-0 vote,Monday night the Ocean Shores City Council approved the hiring of Scott R. Andersen as city administrator, a new position that was funded when the current city budget was approved last fall.

A native of Olympia, Andersen was sworn in after the vote and his job starts immediately. This marks the first time in more than 11 years that someone other than the mayor has been in the role of the city manager of the seaside community.

He has more than 15 years of professional expertise supervising U.S. government and non-profit sponsored programs in local public policy, civil society, civic education and promoting inclusive governance.

After graduating from the Henry M. Jackson School for International Studies at the University of Washington with an master’s degree in political science and a Juris Doctor from the University of Washington School of Law in 2004, Andersen served as the director of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Romania. In that role he managed women’s and minority political participation programs and led efforts to improve constituent relations by training members of parliament and parliamentary staff on best practices in constituent casework management.

He has also worked on civic education programs in Eastern Europe in cooperation with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and in the Philippines, Colombia and South Africa on programs promoting educational workforce development opportunities. Andersen twice served in the Washington State Legislature, as a senate session aide and as assistant to the Office of Senate Committee Services.

He explained that Ocean Shores has long played a role in his life. It was a summer vacation destination in his youth and the community he plans to retire in.

“This will hopefully be my last job in a career that has taken me all over the world,” he told Council.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity and an honor to serve as the city administrator in Ocean Shores. It’s exceedingly rare to be afforded the possibility to shape the community you long to call home,” he said.

“My family has deep ties to the city. My sister was married here and owns a home in Ocean Shores. As a child we vacationed here every year. I truly look forward to working with the citizens of our community to successfully manage the growth of our community while retaining its unique appeal.”