By Brenna Wiegand
With the departure of City Manager Bryan Cosgrove, the clock began ticking for Silverton City Council, which has six months in which to fill the position. Cosgrove took over as manager of the City of Wilsonville June 20.
“Bryan’s strong municipal financial background and management style will certainly be missed,” Silverton Mayor Stu Rasmussen said. “Losing a key staff member is never pleasant, but Silverton’s loss will be Wilsonville’s gain.”
Silverton City Council members are embarking on a nationwide search using a professional search firm specializing in government employees. After the search firm helps narrow the field of applicants to a manageable number, councilors plan to involve the community in conducting personal interviews.
“Although the City Council will make the final hiring decision, I fully intend to include the community at large in the selection, because the city manager works for all of us here in Silverton, not just the City Council,” Rasmussen said, indicating that those interested in helping with the selection process contact him.
Until council selects a new city manager, Silverton Police Chief Rick Lewis will take on the additional responsibilities of interim manager.
“In the interim, we all trust Chief Lewis to lead the city,” Council member Laurie Carter said.
“Rick is a great guy; I have full confidence in his abilities and commitment to our community,” Rasmussen said.
“Rick is very professional and in my opinion will do an excellent job as we begin our search for a new manager,” said Councilor Judy Schmidt. “We have six months to make a very important decision, but I am confident we’ll have a new city manager by that time.”
Submissions of proposal for executive recruitment services for city manager are due 5 p.m. Friday, July 1.
