Heads up! Eugene’s city manager search deserves your attention

The most important job in Eugene city government is about to be vacant. 

If this is the first you’re hearing of the search for a new Eugene city manager, I’m sorry to tell you that Monday was the deadline to apply.

But the more important question than whether you might have had a shot at the $238,000- to $319,000-a-year job, is: How much do you know about what Eugene’s city manager does?

Perhaps not much. Otherwise, I imagine a few more than six people (five of whom represented the business community) would have shown up for last month’s Eugene City Council listening session to gather community input on the search for a new city manager.

This is a job search all Eugene residents should pay attention to, not just chamber of commerce officials and CEOs.

What’s at stake? Well, it’s the city manager who manages Eugene’s $800 million annual budget, not the mayor or council.

The city manager oversees 2,300 full- and part-time city employees.

The city manager must align the City Council’s policy priorities with the resources and needs of the city’s six departments: Eugene Police, Eugene Springfield Fire, Library, Recreation and Cultural Services, Planning and Development, Public Works, and Central Services.

And it will be the next city manager who inherits the many challenges that loom over the city’s budget and operations.

Sarah Medary, appointed city manager in 2019, saved perhaps her most controversial decision for her last year at the city’s helm. In March, she approved installation of 57 Flock Safety license-plate reader cameras, without notice to the public or the Eugene Police Commission. That touched off a backlash that led the City Council to recommend they be turned off. Medary complied with that request last month, despite her objections. Her successor may be asked to decide the ultimate fate of the cameras.

But Medary’s successor will face plenty of other issues. 

There’s the collapse of funding to support the mobile crisis intervention service CAHOOTS, which ceased operating in Eugene in April and has since forced Eugene Police patrol officers to spend more time responding to low- and mid-level behavioral health calls.

There’s the pressure to balance business leaders’ demands for more action on downtown Eugene’s homelessness situation with advocates’ push for more services that meet homeless individuals where they’re at.

Most importantly, there’s Eugene’s structural budget deficit. The city needs a long-term strategy that moves it beyond its current cycle of proposing major service cuts every two years before coming up with 11th-hour fee hikes to stave them off. With rising pension costs likely to further strain budgets, the next city manager may need to present unpopular budget proposals to City Council, ones that balance service cuts and efficiencies with new taxes and increased fees.

Soon we’ll learn more about what city councilors want from Medary’s successor. Councilors are scheduled to meet privately with city manager candidates in early December and hold in-person interviews with finalists in January. Final interviews will include at least one public forum. Lookout Eugene-Springfield will keep an eye on that important process.

But to what extent will Eugene residents sway the City Council’s decision when they make it? Based on what we’ve heard so far, perhaps not much.

Read the Eugene City Manager job description

Eugene city managers since 2000

• Sarah Medary, 2019-2025, previously Eugene’s director of Public Works 
• Jon Ruiz, 2008-2019, previously Fresno city manager
• Dennis Taylor, 2003-2008, previously Billings, Mont., city administrator
• Jim Johnson, 1998-2002, previously Eugene Library and Cultural Services director