Yachats residents listen, quiz and then weigh in Monday night on preferences for new city manager

 

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews

YACHATS – Candidates for the Yachats city manager job put their best foot forward at a public forum Monday night as they answered a gamut of questions from community members. 

Seventy people turned out to participate in roundtable discussions that had the three finalists for the job rotating between three groups to field questions before participants filled out a survey to indicate their preferred candidate. 

“I think this might be a record,” said Emelia Wallace, an associate with Jensen Strategies of Portland, the recruiting firm retained to help Yachats find its next city manager. “I’ve done 15 of these so far and this is the best turnout I’ve seen.” 

Jensen received 13 applications from across the country for the job, which it winnowed down to a short list for consideration by the Yachats city council. The council then chose three to move forward into the interview process. 

Bobbi Price of Waldport, Benjamin Burgener of Stanfield, Ore. and Jeanne Colvin of Anderson Island, Wash., introduced themselves to the audience and gave a short pitch emphasizing their credentials before the audience divided into groups.

“I was born and raised in Waldport,” said Price, the executive director of the Yachats Area Chamber of Commerce. She touted her work promoting economic vitality in the region, developing opportunities for small businesses and her years of experience organizing and managing the Newport Seafood and Wine Festival – which is essentially building a city on a vacant lot year after year, she said. 

“I do think it’s important for someone with local knowledge, relationships, roots and a deep care for the community to be acknowledged or looked at for the position,” Price said. “My path to applying for this has not been one of traditional means but one of hard work and dedication and learning along the way.”  

Colvin expressed a long-held desire to one day retire on the Oregon coast and touted her years of public service, which included working with four different governors in a career that’s spanned from Arizona to her home state of Washington. 

“I have a ton of experience with government administration,” Colvin said. “Currently I work with the Washington State Department of Health on a whole plethora of issues representing a small region where I grew up.” 

She mentioned her experience managing crisis and a lot of “moving parts” during the pandemic to assure the most vulnerable received help before concluding that what excites her is helping people and communities thrive. 

Burgener is the city manager of Stanfield, a city of 2,500 near Hermiston in northeast Oregon. His career path has navigated from the private to the public sector – “because I really enjoyed the value the public sector brings.” 

He has a master’s degree in Public Administration from Brigham Young University, worked as finance manager for the Utah Department of Transportation and served a short stint as city administrator in Ada, Minn. 

“A lot of the opportunities that Yachats is experiencing we’ve experienced or Stanfield experienced and little bit more to scale,” Burgener said. “…a lot of things that this position already has is what I do right now in my current role.” 

In 2022 Burgener turned down a job offer to become Warrenton’s city manager, but said it is his and his wife’s intention to someday move to the coast. 

 

Roundtable discussions

Finalists answered questions from the public that ranged from support of youth development and emergency preparedness to housing and managing growth. 

Price was asked whether she has experience managing people and how she might manage a city council overstepping its boundaries. 

She acknowledged not having year-round experience managing staff but highlighted her duties in organizing the wine and seafood festival, which she addressed in her opening remarks saying it “necessitates a high level of management, communication and collaboration, organization (of) contractors, volunteers, staff,” working with the police, fire and health departments and creating emergency plans. 

“I need to be able to make quick and sound decisions for the safety of the community and the event patrons and I was tested on that multiple times,”  Price said.

As to how she would respond if council tried to micro-manage her or city staff, Price said she would not hesitate to discuss it with them and make clear the boundary between policy and administration. 

“There would be a conversation that would need to take place but there’s also the city charter to fall back on, there’s the council rules to fall back onto and those are there for a reason,” Price said. “I’m not afraid of hard conversations. I have a smile on my face but I’m not afraid of hard conversations.”  

Her comments drew laughter from the group and one woman commented under her breath – “she has a teenager.” 

Brings city experience

When Burgener was asked what in particular interests him about the Yachats manager position, he talked about fine-tuning operations. 

“Within the city operations there’s a lot of great opportunities to help with infrastructure and the different plans for the city,” Burgener said. “I guess what really is fun for me, it’s like taking what you already have and actually re-working it because there’s a lot of growth right now inside the organization, inside of just the opportunities that need to be kind of, well, shored-up,” he said. 

He mentioned those same kinds of changes happening in Stanfield and then noted his “really good” relationship with its council and city staff. 

“So we’ve gone through a lot of things I saw that were issues in Yachats maybe and I know how to do that, we’ve gone through it before,” Burgener said. “So maybe more of that challenge of ‘let’s put it together again.’ ” 

Questioned further about changing what already works for Yachats, such as volunteer committees and commissions, Burgener responded that he’s not suggesting city hall needs to be re-organized, but just having “change and growth to maybe amplify or to improve what’s already there.” 

He also addressed turning down the Warrenton job, saying that through the interview process he felt that employees were not valued and that community relations were volatile so it was not a good fit or worth risking a move. 

Worn many hats

Colvin was asked why she chose to apply for the Yachats position and what skills set her apart from the six city managers who have come and gone or served as interims since 2020.

Colvin said the pandemic made her realize she was not where she wanted to be and that it was time to get to the Oregon coast where she and her husband hope to someday retire. 

“And what I can say about experience is that I’ve spent my career, really, in public administration yes, but more in relationship building than anything,” Colvin said. “To bring different groups together…at so many different levels with so many different types of people – that’s just how I work.”

Colvin said she is particularly drawn to the volunteer spirit and community involvement, which is far beyond what she sees in larger towns. 

“My husband and I really wanted to find a community where people do for one another and care about one another,” Colvin said. “And Yachats is that.” 

She was also asked how her broader experience would translate to managing a small town? 

“It differs in some ways because it’s more inclusive of a variety of different programs and projects and plans and priorities,” she said. “But it’s the same in that I’ve had to wear so many hats in previous positions … and you have to do so without dropping a lot of balls.” 

Audience response

At the end of the 90-minute event attendees filled out the surveys which were then forwarded to the city council for consideration. But three participants chosen at random by the YachatsNews revealed a decided home-court advantage. 

“I thought all three of them were very well spoken,” said Lou Brennan of Yachats. “They had various skills and two of them stood out to me. One being Bobbi Price and the other the gentleman from (Stanfield). And the reason that Bobbi stood out is that I think she is willing to learn, very willing to learn, so I lean toward her.” 

Brennan added she is not concerned with Price’s lack of experience because of that willingness to learn.

“And I think she is probably willing to embrace the people that are already here, I think she has that advantage,” Brennan said. “I think (Burgener) is going to have a transition problem, which will be a problem.”

Lance Bloch, who is on the Yachats’ planning commission and budget committee, said he thought all three could do an adequate job but gave the nod to Price. 

“I have (seen her) work in the past and (she) is a local resident,” Bloch said. “And I like the work she’s done up to this point.”

Bloch acknowledged the experience Burgener would bring to the job, but still felt Price was the best fit. 

Mindy Parsons of Yachats had no doubt about her choice. 

“Bobbi Price truly feels the heart of Yachats and it comes through,” Parsons said. “She seems like she is going to stick around, which is something we haven’t had in a while in our city managers … She hasn’t held the role of a city manager before but she seems so eager and ready to do that. 

“I felt like some of the other candidates might be using this as a stepping stone to something else in the future,” she added.  “And a stepping stone toward retirement. That was said by one of the candidates. And I just feel like Yachats really needs somebody that has the longevity.” 

The finalists were interviewed by city staff, a panel of select citizens and a group of city managers Tuesday, and underwent interviews with the council Wednesday. The council is meeting in executive (closed) session Thursday and then convening in regular session to decide whether to enter negotiations with a finalist.  

• Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com