By Brenna Wiegand
City Manager Bryan Cosgrove has resigned his Silverton post to assume the city manager’s role for the City of Wilsonville in mid-June.
When he hit town in 2002, Cosgrove saw some quick ways to save the community money and make city wheels run more efficiently. City Hall lacked a human resources department; each unit did its own hiring. He hired Janet Newport as his assistant in 2004, in large part for her HR background.
“I’ve really enjoyed the environment Bryan has created here,” she said. Given his expectations for the job, Newport said she received the latitude to “create and expand” her role in response to the needs she discerned within the organization. She said growth in terms of learning public sector work has taken place within an unchanging framework: “Our reason for being here is to serve the citizens of Silverton.”
Cosgrove discovered Abiqua Heights property owners were not paying property taxes; the annexation of the development had never been certified by the Secretary of State, which is the final step before cities can begin collecting property taxes. Cosgrove also pointed to the creation of the Silverton Urban Renewal District as a tool that will allow the city to revitalize the downtown and provide economic develpment opportunities for job growth and retention.
Governmental wheels often move slowly when plowing through regulations and procedures, making it a rare and satisfying pleasure for Cosgrove to have been able to see some important projects to completion.
There was the multi-agency coordination it took to keep The Oregon Garden up and going – and the almost equally involved, two-year undertaking of getting it out of receivership five years later. Finally, Moonstone Hotel Properties stepped in, assuming garden management and purchasing an adjoining 11 acres where it built a resort hotel. Most people do not realize, Cosgrove added, how big a favor Moonstone owner Dirk Winter did – and is doing – to make the Garden a viable, attractive destination.
“He gives $250,000 a year of his own money to keep the Oregon Garden financially solid,” Cosgrove said.
The new Silverton Senior Center, just a goal when Cosgrove was hired, is now buzzing with activity and a strong contingent is working to install a skate park nearby. The unique juxtaposition offers intergenerational possibilities.
“It was a huge project,” Cosgrove said of the spacious facility, “and besides the land and some design, it was all paid for through grants.”
“I have the deepest respect for his role in managing our city,” Councilman Kyle Palmer said. “He has helped us navigate the recent economical downturn through his approach to the city’s personnel structure and its finances and has always seen that we were planning for the city’s short, medium, and long-term needs, despite inheriting an organization that had not always done so.”
While Cosgrove would rather point to the council’s actions as the impetus for change, Palmer said the Council would have little to work with without a proficient city manager. A strong proponent of youth sports, one of the many benefits Palmer observed, made possible by the passage of a pool renovation general obligation bond, was the year-round city swimming pool, operated by the Silver Falls Family YMCA.
Palmer, impressed by Cosgrove’s desire to involve Silverton residents and community organizations in citywide undertakings, said his respect for Cosgrove grew through their mutual involvement in a number of community groups.
A founding member Silverton Youth Basketball Association, Cosgrove has coached his basketball-playing kids Kate and Blake, now in their teens, since they were kindergartners. Both are long and lean like their dad, who played basketball in high school, junior college and during his four years in the Army.
The understandable apprehension about starting over in a new community and school district is there, he said, but both kids look forward to giving lacrosse a whirl.
Judy Schmidt of Silverton City Council is not surprised that Wilsonville “snatched him up” out of the position’s 90-plus applicants.
Laurie Carter, recently appointed to City Council, considers Cosgrove one of the best managers Silverton has had in the last 35 years.
“He is visionary, yet fiscally conservative; goal-oriented, but always responsive to direction from the council,” Carter said.
“I’ve worked for a lot of city managers over the years and he’s one of the best,” Police Chief Rick Lewis said. “He has allowed department heads to do their job without micromanaging or interfering while offering guidance. And, I will really miss his sense of humor.”
The feeling is mutual. Throughout his nine years in Silverton, and, before that in Oregon City, Cosgrove has come to admire those who give of themselves to serve the community, including as city councilors.
“I have nothing but respect for anybody who runs for office and volunteers to work within the confines of a group on behalf of their community,” he said.
Bringing agencies together in common causes is a never-ending part of a city manager’s job. Currently, collective bargaining agreements are under way for the public works and police departments. Water plans and dam policies loom. Several new parks are on the drawing board for Silverton, and a sidewalk project is in the works on Eureka.
While the implementation of the Downtown Master Plan’s streetscape project is still in its early stages, concerns about the condition of downtown’s roads and sidewalks reached the ears of Oregon Department of Transportation. Cosgrove leaves assured those downtown potholes and crumbling sidewalks will get the attention they need, thanks to work and grant money from ODOT.
Wilsonville has twice the population of Silverton and a city staff of 181 versus Silverton’s 55. The numbers – budget, staff, population – be what they may, running a city is running a city, Cosgrove said, and he plans to hit the ground running when he takes on his new role June 20.
A week after the announcement, Schmidt said the council had not yet discussed its plan for the recruitment of a new city manager; Palmer said it is doubtful Cosgrove’s position will be filled prior to his departure.
“The people here, we all work so well together and are supportive of one another,” Newport said, “so this interim time will be as seamless as it can be.”
