QuickTake:

Councilors voted unanimously to appoint Beaverton’s Jenny Haruyama to succeed Sarah Medary as Eugene city manager, pending contract negotiations between her and the City Council president. 

Jenny Haruyama is the City Council’s choice to be Eugene’s next city manager.

The council Wednesday, Jan. 14, voted unanimously to appoint the Beaverton city manager to the role, pending contract negotiations between her and the council president.

Jenny Haruyama. Credit: Provided / City of Eugene

Haruyama was selected over two other finalists. As Eugene’s city manager, she would work as the city’s chief executive, managing more than 1,500 city employees and a $1.9 billion two-year budget.

The finalists, which also included Eugene’s interim city manager Matt Rodrigues and Lake Oswego City Manager Martha Bennett, came from a list of about 50 applicants following a recruitment firm-led national search. 

Haruyama has been Beaverton’s city manager for four years, overseeing 632 full-time city hall employees — including a dozen reporting directly to her — and a $500 million budget. Before that, she held leadership roles in at least four small-to-midsized cities in California, including Tracy, Scotts Valley, Livermore and Los Gatos. 

In her new role, Haruyama will inherit leadership of a larger and lower-income city than Beaverton, which has about 100,000 residents compared to Eugene’s more than 175,000. The median household income there was about $94,279 in 2023, compared to Eugene’s $63,836.

Eugene’s budget constraints, its urgent need to increase housing and advance development, urban problems like homelessness and community fear and distrust due to the Trump administration’s activity will almost certainly be top of mind as she begins the role. 

She’ll also need to tackle specific long-term challenges, like the reorganization of Eugene Springfield Fire, determining whether Eugene police should bring back controversial automated license-plate reader technology, and strategizing how to revive the city’s crisis response service.

The salary range for the city manager job is $238,077 to $319,218.

Sarah Medary, who held the role for six years before retiring in December, was paid a salary of $293,217 in 2024. The same year, Haruyama’s salary was $272,110 as Beaverton city manager. 

In public comments, councilors said the decision was difficult, praising all three finalists who interviewed publicly.

Councilor Greg Evans, who will help with the incoming city manager’s contract negotiations, said that process will take about two to four weeks. The negotiations include setting a base salary, as well as other details such as a potential vehicle allowance and expense account.

A start date is not in place and the city didn’t give candidates a deadline to start if hired.

During this phase, Rodrigues will continue to serve as interim city manager and return to his role as assistant city manager when Haruyama starts, Evans said.

In the interview seat: City manager finalists make their cases to Eugene councilors 

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.

Grace Chinowsky graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in journalism. She served as metro editor, senior news editor and editor in chief of the university’s independent student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, and interned at CNN and MSNBC. Grace covers Eugene’s city government and the University of Oregon.