Consultant summarizes priorities from internal and external stakeholders in city manager search

Central Services Director Mia Kariaga introduced Jeff Morris of Bob Murray & Associates at the Sept. 22 work session to present stakeholder feedback gathered for the city manager recruitment. Morris said he and a colleague interviewed roughly 14 internal executive-team members and nine external stakeholders and that common priorities emerged: housing and homelessness, public safety and Eugene-Springfield coordination (including fire services), downtown safety and revitalization, budget and revenue strategy, and equity.

Morris summarized internal stakeholder leadership qualities: authenticity and integrity, strong emotional intelligence, the ability to be a bold strategic thinker while building collaborative culture, deep familiarity with Eugene's manager-council form of government, regional relationship management (Lane County, Springfield, University of Oregon), and experience with organized labor and public-safety labor relations. He told councilors the next city manager should also have strong public-budgeting and change-management experience and the ability to address legacy technology and cybersecurity needs.

External stakeholders, Morris said, echoed many internal priorities and raised additional concerns: a perceived budget squeeze that could require unpopular cuts, the need to resolve long-standing Eugene-Springfield fire-integration issues, and a desire for active downtown revitalization to restore vibrancy and safety. Morris said external interviewees expressed willingness to participate in candidate visits and to act as local ambassadors during recruitment.

Councilors pressed for more detail on who the external stakeholders were and for inclusion of labor voices. Councilor Kishinski asked Morris for a specific list of external stakeholders; Morris said he would provide the names to the executive team to distribute. Morris confirmed that union leaders were not interviewed in the set of conversations he summarized and said labor stakeholders could be engaged at a later stage. Several councilors said they wanted broad engagement but expressed concern about both an overly small sample and about unmanaged public meetings producing unproductive conflict.

Morris offered an overall characterization of community culture he had heard from internal staff: an "activist-driven" civic culture with strong nonprofit presence and neighborly networks, combined with some institutional risk aversion at times. He told the council that many internal interviewees said the organization's deliberative processes can become the de facto product and that a next manager would need to preserve procedural protections while enabling more nimble execution.

Process and next steps: Kariaga and Morris said Bob Murray & Associates will host a drop-in Zoom session on Oct. 20 for community members and that evening the firm will hold a council-facing listening session to present community input directly to council. Morris said the recruiter will send councilors printed materials and a soft copy of the recruitment brochure; Councilor Leach confirmed staff had incorporated suggested brochure edits and that distribution to councilors is planned.

Morris opened the floor to questions and said the interviews showed strong local support for current leadership: "Everyone loves Sarah," he told the council, summarizing respondents' praise for the current city manager's work. Councilors asked for wider engagement with neighborhood groups, business leaders and labor stakeholders before finalizing the candidate profile. Kariaga and Morris said those outreach steps would be part of the ongoing process and repeated the Oct. 20 opportunities for broader public input.