NIAGARA FALLS: Engineer starting March 30

Local News

March 10, 2009

Job has been vacant for more than 14 months

Staff Reports The Niagara Gazette Tue Mar 10, 2009, 04:55 PM EDT

New City Engineer Ali Marzban will be on the job March 30.

City Administrator Donna Owens announced Marzban’s start date at Monday’s City Council meeting, ending weeks of speculation of when Mayor Paul Dyster’s newest administrative hire would arrive from California. Marzban’s hire was announced in late December.

Marzban was selected by Dyster after being identified in a nationwide recruitment effort to fill the city engineer position that has been vacant since Jan. 1, 2008. The City Council has approved the base salary of $93,341, which is $25,341 more than former City Engineer Robert Curtis was making.

Born in Iran, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Science and Technology, Marzban moved to the U.S. to further his education in the early 1990s. He received a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1998. His resume boasts more than 20 years of professional engineering experience, including nine years working in municipal government and 11 years in private engineering firms.

Since 2006, he has served as president and CEO of Pegah City Engineering, a company he created to provide consulting and quality control services for engineering firms and small business owners. The company’s operations are based in California.

City officials anticipated Marzban to begin work by the end of January but the date was pushed back to allow him more time to find a home in the city. On Monday, City Council members said they would like to meet the new engineer prior to his start date if possible.