By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The Yachats City Council voted 4-1 Thursday to negotiate a contract with Gretchen Dubie, the former head of a large nonprofit organization in Eugene, to become its next city manager.
After multiple interviews, two meetings with the public and six executive sessions during its three-month search, councilors chose Dubie over Helen Anderson, a longtime Yachats resident and member of the Planning Commission.
Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey was the only council member voting to select neither one, later explaining that she hoped the council could keep interim city manager Katherine Guenther in the job. Guenther, who has been both interim manager and the contract planner since June, did not apply for the permanent position.
All the councilors said the decision was a tough one between someone who knew the city intimately and could hit the ground running and another who had run a large organization and proven leadership skills. All expressed hope that Dubie could bring stability to staff and get the city moving again.
“I would hope the community could get behind this and move forward,” said Councilor Ann Stott.
The council still must negotiate a contract with Dubie, including salary, benefits, its length, and duties, among other details. In a discussion later, several councilors disagreed with Mayor Leslie Vaaler after she suggested discomfort offering a salary larger than Guenther’s or “a lot more than some staff.”
Dubie moved to Yachats a year ago, but has been visiting for three decades. Until July she spent the last 12 years as executive director of a Eugene-based nonprofit serving disabled adults, overseeing a $10 million yearly budget, 18 group homes and 200 employees. In addition to that job, Dubie has served on statewide advisory boards, worked with state and local governments, and with other community groups and leaders in Lane County.
Dubie was traveling with family in Pennsylvania on Thursday but attended part of the council’s online meeting.
“Thank you for all the thought you put into this decision,” she said in the Zoom meeting’s “chat” room. “I look forward to talking with you all further.”
The city has had two interim managers – Lee Elliott and Guenther, who is also the city planner — since the departure of Shannon Beaucaire in late March. The city was also crippled for much of the spring and summer after the departure of an office assistant and its community services supervisor, leaving Guenther and deputy recorder Kimmie Jackson to oversee city hall after not hiring more office help until just a few weeks ago.
The council also took months to launch its own manager search and got 14 applications when it did this summer. They winnowed that down to seven, conducted Zoom interviews with four and then picked Dubie and Anderson as finalists.
Stott said she heard from some community members that they were disappointed that no one with city manager experience applied for the job.
“We didn’t have that option,” she said. “We had to find a manager who could learn and serve us going forward.”
Councilor Greg Scott said the city was “blessed with two highly qualified candidates” and that it was clear from public comments after two question and answer sessions that both had strong supporters. He said his choice centered on leadership abilities and the option of making no decision on a candidate Thursday “was dead on arrival.”
“Enough with taking,” Scott said. “We need a decision. I look forward to progress and a period of stability.”
In a short statement to YachatsNews, Anderson said she wished Dubie “all the best.”
Vaaler, Stott to negotiate contract
The council decided to have Vaaler and Stott negotiate a contract with Dubie to bring back to council for approval, but got hung up because until Thursday had not discussed – or advertised – a salary range for the position.
When she left after three years in the job, Beaucaire was making about $105,000 a year. Guenther is being paid $7,000 a month, or the equivalent of $84,000 a year. Two years ago, Dubie’s salary at the Oregon Supported Living Program in Eugene was $120,000 a year.
Vaaler said she was uncomfortable paying someone new to city government more than what Guenther was making and significantly more than any other city employee.
Scott pushed back, saying the council needed to be willing to go higher. City managers are paid more due to their overall responsibilities, he said, and because unlike municipal, unionized employees they serve at the pleasure of city councils that change every 2-4 years.
“… city managers are compensated more because of the fact that there’s little job security,” he said.
“This is really more about what Gretchen is willing to accept,” Scott said. “I don’t want this group to be overly constrained by the salary.
Councilor Anthony Muirhead said while Dubie needed to be fairly compensated, she is new to city government and had lots to learn.
Vaaler indicated that part of her reluctance to pay Dubie more was because the council had already agreed to keep Guenther working full-time for at least a month to help with the transition. That drew pushback from Muirhead and Stott, who said the council had already made that decision more than a month ago.
“Let’s not get bogged down with the transition,” Muirhead said. “We’re hiring a city manager. We’ve already voted that there will be a transition period.”
Guenther said she had no problem with a transition of a month or longer.
“It will resolve itself naturally,” she told the council. “I’m not planning on leaving the area – or even the building. But there’s going to be a day when I’m no longer needed in that capacity.”