By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
YACHATS – The lone finalist for the Yachats city manager job has withdrawn her application after concerns she did not have the mayor’s support and because of unprofessional aspects of the city council’s homemade search process.
Gretchen Dubie sent a four-sentence email to Mayor Leslie Vaaler and four council members Friday night withdrawing from consideration.
“I am sorry to the community and the people I have disappointed by making this decision,” her email said in part. “I will push forward and find other ways to serve this city and community.”
The city council on Wednesday voted 3-2 to offer Dubie a two-year contract to become city manager, with Vaaler and Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey voting no without further explanation. It culminated a process that had stumbled along since July.
Dubie attended the council’s online, public meeting where for 90 minutes they discussed and debated details of a contract she had yet to see. Dubie did not participate in the meeting, but on Saturday told YachatsNews it was “was heartbreaking to watch.”
Completion of a background check required by the city’s insurer wasn’t finished by the end of the day Friday and Dubie never received a written contract offer to examine before withdrawing her application that night.
But, Dubie told YachatsNews on Saturday that the mayor’s request for yet another job reference – the 11th she had been asked to provide — was inappropriate. Dubie said she was also disturbed by Vaaler’s suddenly voting against offering her the contract Wednesday and insisting that interim city manager Katherine Guenther be involved in the background checks. That is a serious violation of standard personnel protocols, Dubie said, because if she would have taken the job she would have supervised Guenther’s work as city planner.
“My self respect and dignity is more important than this job,” Dubie said.
Councilors Ann Stott and Greg Scott, the two council members who were Dubie’s biggest supporters, were upset Saturday that the council’s long, unorthodox and homemade city manager search chased away a qualified candidate. They were also upset that Vaaler and O’Shaughnessey didn’t throw their support to Dubie once it was clear that a majority favored hiring her.
Stott – who with Vaaler had negotiated some contract details with the candidate — met Saturday morning with Dubie to see if she would change her mind. Dubie did not.
“She needed to hang on to her dignity,” Stott told YachatsNews.
Vaaler’s only comment Saturday was a short emailed statement to YachatsNews.
“I believe the council has learned a lot during the course of our city manager search,” she said. “It will be up to the entire council to determine how to move forward.”
A professional search?
Stott said she believes the city now needs to turn to a professional search company to find the next manager. The council early this year rejected that approach in order to have more control over the process and save its $20,000 cost.
“I’m not going through this again,” Stott said angrily. “The only thing we can do is have an agency do a search and try to move forward.”
Stott later emailed a statement to YachatsNews apologizing to Dubie “for the unprofessional way the entire recruitment process has been handled.”
“The public discourse about her during our City Council meetings has been totally inappropriate,” it said in part. “We as a council have failed to complete the most important responsibility of our term and made a mockery of our first council goal. It is unfortunate the inaction of a few individuals can negatively impact the functioning of our city as it has in the past year.”
Councilor Anthony Muirhead, who also voted to offer Dubie the contract, said he wasn’t “terribly surprised” at her withdrawal due to the council’s long, awkward process. And for that reason, now using a professional search firm might be best.
“I don’t see how doing it this way again is beneficial,” he said. “We stumbled at the finish line, like we do a lot.”
O’Shaughnessey agreed with Stott and Muirhead that an outside, professional search firm was the council’s best option now – after an appropriate cooling off period.
“Absolutely,” she said. “I look back to learn, not blame … and I don’t think there’s any doubt we need to do that. We thought we could do our own. It didn’t work. Let the professionals do it now.”
Scott said Saturday that he also believes the council needs to take a “time out” to let emotions settle, but also for councilors to try to work out their differences.
“Until something changes on our end, we’re going to have the same result,” he said. “At this point we need to step back. Rushing into a snap decision now would not seem wise to me.”
The only silver lining to Dubie’s rejection, Scott said, is that the council now has a contract it seems satisfied with and documents spelling out the city manager’s and council’s expectations. Councilors had been working on those since July.
“But this is a huge loss for the community,” Scott said.
‘This city is worth it’
The city council decided in November to negotiate a contract with Dubie, who was a finalist for the job along with Helen Anderson, a former city contractor and current Planning Commission member.
Yachats has been without a permanent manager since the departure of Shannon Beaucaire in April. The city had its first interim manager for a little over two months last spring, then has had Guenther in that role and planning director since June.
Dubie had been visiting Yachats for decades and purchased a house just north of town in October 2020. For the past 12 years she had been executive director of the Oregon Supported Living Program in Eugene, a $10 million-a-year nonprofit with 200 employees that provides housing and services for disabled adults. She left that job in July when her husband took a job at the Angell Job Corps Center and after the toll of operating a 200-employee operation during the coronavirus pandemic became too much. She saw the city’s advertisement and applied at the last minute.
Dubie said Saturday she lost several job opportunities this fall while waiting for the council to complete its process.
“There were weeks where there was nothing but silence,” she said. “But it was the community that kept me engaged.
“The bottom line is that I want to be in an environment where I’m supported by my peers and supervisors,” she said. “It’s a shame. This city is worth it.”
I would have rather seen Helen Anderson get the position because she has served the city for some time and is more connected to the city than Dubie.
Of the two, Anderson and Dubie, I preferred Dubie. But I felt that Anderson would also be qualified and capable.
Did council members ever indicate why Dubie was selected over Anderson?
I’m also uncertain as to why Mayor Vaaler and O’Shaughnessey, who did not stand for election but was appointed to the council, voted against making an offer to Dubie.
11 references??? This was an application for City Manager – not for the Messiah. Really puzzling!
Amateur hour continues in the gem of the Oregon coast. These minimally-qualified people who aspire to be members of the ruling class would do us all a favor by pursuing another less-damaging role. I apologize for voting for one particular person.
This is kind of hilarious.
Shame on you Mayor Vaaler and Yachats city council. Gretchen seemed a perfect fit for keeping the spirit of Yachats. Creative, smart, personable. Clearly smart enough to see a group of people who enjoy their presumed power, and have no real interest in the good of Yachats. I think the next “professional” search should be for a mayor who can get something done, and be a leader. There are one or two people on the council who seem to have the city’s best interest at heart in taking their positions, but will become frustrated and leave as well if the council keeps arguing over rearranging chairs on the Titanic. I hope this latest gaffe people aware. I’m sorry, Gretchen Dubie. You would have been great, I hope your future is great.
It’s not the entire group. Anthony Muirhead and Katherine Guenther have dedicated themselves for the city. The fact that grown adults need a “cooling down” period is ridiculous. It isn’t about any individual, Ms. Vallar, it’s about the city. Gretchen was treated shamefully, I know the citizens here supported her and still do. A well respected, talented professional. Shame on you buffoons.
In the heat of an election, it is easy to forget that “Elections have consequences.”
Gretchen Dubie for Mayor
Please keep in mind that a majority of the council voted to offer Gretchen the position. If there is a smoking gun, it can be found in Gretchen’s own words. “But, Dubie told YachatsNews on Saturday that the mayor’s request for yet another job reference – the 11th she had been asked to provide — was inappropriate. Dubie said she was also disturbed by Vaaler’s suddenly voting against offering her the contract Wednesday and insisting that interim city manager Katherine Guenther be involved in the background checks. That is a serious violation of standard personnel protocols, Dubie said, because if she would have taken the job she would have supervised Guenther’s work as city planner.”
Yachats is left with no city manager for reasons that are, frankly, not easy to excuse. This state of affairs is not good for the city, its workers or its residents. For many small cities, a city manager’s job is more crucial than the mayor’s and the next several months of this continuing void may affect Yachats negatively in ways that are predictable and long-lasting. Because a spirit of unity is important in a small community, it is not easy to say the next part out loud, but we’re at a point where not saying it is more harmful than saying it: Mayor Vaaler has shown on numerous occasions that her natural response to challenges is a micro-managing kind of leadership. While competency and efficiency may be her stated goals, there is something ‘off’ in the way that it all gets translated, and her effect seems to be one of divisiveness and stagnation instead of unity and progress. These are not ideal traits for mayoral leadership, and this has negatively impacted Yachats governance on more than one occasion. Would it be too much to ask Mayor Vaaler to consider resigning if doing so might permit Dubie and the rest of the Council to take a few deep breaths and engage in a reconsideration whereby Gretchen Dubie might rethink her position on the city’s offer of employment? While this is an admittedly outside-the-box proposed solution to a vexing problem for Yachats, the alternative of spending months in a search for a city manager, yet again, with the potential for a similar end result (with the same players, it could happen again)–not to mention an earned reputation that will likely scare away many good candidates– this may be our best shot to get a top-notch City Manager for years to come. The Council’s majority vote to offer Dubie the position, despite the Mayor’s lack of enthusiasm, is a strong affirmation that Yachats needs what Gretchen Dubie can bring to city governance. Falling back on the city’s 2nd choice is another option, if she’ll have us, but there was a reason the Council ultimately chose Dubie at this time. We have other council members who could step up to become interim mayor, should the position become open.
Wow. Small town politics live on! I see the same melodrama times two playing out in Sequim, Wash., close to where I live. Voting counts!
Yachats is in a total state of confusion at this point in time. Gretchen would have served the city well, but as her friend and for her own well being, I’m glad she bowed out. She’s a great leader and person. She will find other ways to shine.
Utilizing a professional search firm isn’t going to provide any better results then Yachats got with the 14 candidates. The issue is not the quality of the candidates but that the Council can’t agree. It’s all of the Council, not just one or two. The bottom line is that the Council, even with a professional search, will still have to negotiate terms and maybe the new manager wants more and those will have to be negotiated too. The Council needs help knowing what they can and cannot do and what they should and should not do and either way, that needs to be resolved before a search can continue whether it is using the 14 candidates who applied (13 I guess now) or going out to get a bunch more candidates.
There is no reason, though it is highly unusual, for a Council to ask for a number of references. Did the Council as a whole agree to that many? If Stott and Scott didn’t like what Vaaler and O’Shaughnessay were doing, then why didn’t either one of them participate? It feels like they just sat back while the others drove then complained about the driving after.
I’ve either sat on or listed to after every meeting (except Executive) and what I hear is the mayor working hard to make sure all of the Council has a say and a vote. It’s the Council as a whole who is struggling to work things out together because they don’t know what they can/cannot do. This is why they need a city professional, not just someone who has professional non-governmental experience.
I also agree with Ms. Dubie that having Ms. Guenther involved as heavily as she has been is bad form. As an interim or as a candidate, she should not be involved except as the most general of assistance. I do think Mayor Vaaler erred on that but that could be because of their friendship and she’s trying to make Ms. Guenther feel like she matters.
It’s a shame because Yachats is fabulous in every way. I wish the Council luck and hope they find a way to work together.