By Brenna Wiegand
It’s unanimous.
The Silverton City Council selected Bob Willoughby of Florence as Silverton’s new Silverton City Manager. He accepted and begins work in January.
That the vote was unanimous was not lost on council members, city staff or on Willoughby himself.
Silverton Mayor Stu Rasmussen and Silverton City Council President Bill Cummins led the recruitment, hiring Waldron as the search firm.
“This recruitment process was very encouraging,” Silverton Mayor Stu Rasmussen said. “From a wide field of candidates we narrowed our in- person interview list to four exceptionally well-qualified finalists, any one of whom would be a good fit for Silverton.”
“It was a very pleasant process; the guidance and professionalism of Waldron and how they structured it was outstanding.” Cummins said.
“That process was also very collaborative, cordial and done with the best interest of the community in mind. It moved quickly; the interviews went well and, with very little deliberation, Robert Willoughby was the unanimous choice.”
Rasmussen considers Willoughby’s background as an attorney, his experience owning and operating small businesses and his extensive local government involvement as a city manager indicators of a well-rounded individual, well suited to assist the council in carrying out its goals.
Rasmussen sees him as capable of facilitating meaningful dialog with the community, giving them the opportunity to direct their city and its government.
“In my opinion, Bob Willoughby rose to the top of the list, and my assessment was confirmed by almost unanimous agreement from the citizen advisory panel, city staff members who interviewed Mr. Willoughby and the entire city council,” Rasmussen said.
“Waldron did a great job in identifying candidates that met the profile developed by the council with community input,” said Janet Newport, assistant to the city manager.
“Bob clearly meets all of the ideals, skills and qualifications they were looking for. They were unanimous in their decision; I think that speaks a lot about the direction we’re headed now and for the future.”
“The job in Silverton is the first one that’s come up for which I’d give up the really good situation I have here in Florence,” said Willoughby, who has served as a city manager for 14 years, the last five in Florence. “I’m very excited about all the possibilities there and about moving to another wonderful community and a beautiful part of Oregon.”
Bob and Janice Willoughby have enjoyed Silverton and its surrounds for many decades, taking in Silver Falls State Park and paying frequent visits to their sons and other relatives living nearby.
For many years, Willoughby’s sister has kept him apprised of city manager jobs opening up in the area.
“I was really intrigued as I looked into Silverton and at how similar it was to Florence, where I’ve had a really good experience,” Willoughby said.
Like Silverton, Florence has a population of around 9,000. It has an active urban renewal agency that has carried out expansion of and safety upgrades to Siuslaw Public Library; secured land for a park and interpretive center and has “Old Town” infrastructure improvements under way.
In 2010, the Florence Urban Renewal Agency awarded a total of $163,141 in grants to 39 Florence businesses to enhance the appearance and commercial viability of the urban renewal district.
Willoughby, 64, grew up spending time at the family cabin on the slopes of Mt. Hood and said he likes the mountains even more than the coast.
The difficulties Silverton has undergone the past year or so were no obstacle to Willoughby in applying for the job. He, too, was encouraged council was of one accord in choosing him.
“I look forward to doing the things I need to do to build trust between the council and the new city manager,” he said.
“My hope is to gain the respect and trust of the staff relatively quickly; once we get those things established I think the trust and respect of the community will follow.”
Willoughby recognizes the passion and involvement of Silverton’s citizens, a trait he said Florence shares.
It is a priority to him to take part in all public discourse.
“Hopefully I’ll contribute some thoughts and ideas that will help start the healing process,” he said. “I intend to spend my first few weeks and maybe even months getting to know the community better and meeting the people involved – which is a pretty large group in Silverton.”
He faced similar issues when he went to Florence.
“We’ve been able to turn that completely around in the five years I’ve been here,” he said. “Now the relationships, the trust, the respect between the councilors, council and staff and the community’s feelings about the city are, I believe, excellent in every case and that’s why it’s been such a joy to be here. I look forward to perpetuating that type of experience in Silverton.”
Cummins felt that the joint undertaking to find a new city manager helped galvanize the community as well as the council as a body.
“There is a sense of excitement; of hiring a leader whose skills will enable us to move past some of the distractions of the last few months and get back to the projects we’ve had to table; we look forward to this and the ways in which it will contribute to the well being of the entire community,” Cummins said.
“I would like to give credit to fellow councilors and the mayor for staying focused on this process. They did an outstanding job, recognizing the value of working together for the result that we ended up with,” he added.
