City Council Discuss Course for Management Transition and Interim Manager

PORT TOWNSEND, WA — In a sparsely attended special meeting Monday evening, the City Council began planning for the transition following City Manager John Mauro's departure, focusing on a measured, deliberate approach to filling the city's top administrative post.

Mauro, who has served as city manager since November 2019, is leaving to accept a position as City Manager of Bainbridge Island, with his final day scheduled for September 4. The council had scheduled the workshop in advance, anticipating a potential transition regardless of timing.

Staff presentation outlines transition options

Cynthia Shaffer, Director of People and Performance, led the staff presentation, presenting the council with a comprehensive framework document outlining four approaches to the transition:

1. Immediate internal appointment of an existing employee as permanent city manager.

2. Extended interim appointment with deferred recruitment.

3. Interim appointment while conducting concurrent recruitment.

4. External interim appointment while conducting a permanent search.

The document also addressed technical considerations, including the distinction between "acting" and "interim" appointments. It noted a recent change to state law that no longer requires city managers to live within city limits. However, cities may still impose such a requirement. The lack of available housing was identified as a potential problem for recruitment during discussions. 

Internal candidate emerges

Council members openly discussed Public Works Director Steve King as a leading candidate for an interim role. Mayor Amy Howard confirmed she had spoken with King, who has expressed willingness to step into the interim position. The discussion also included that other department directors would qualify for the interim position. 

"I would be personally in favor of the continuity that that would provide, having somebody who understands the culture, understands our work plans," Mayor Howard said.

The council clarified that King, or any other department director, would not immediately be placed in the interim position and that further discussions would take place at a regular business meeting before an interim appointment to allow public process. 

Debate over recruitment timeline

The council discussed the distinction between "option two" (extended interim with deferred recruitment) and "option three" (interim with concurrent recruitment)—the two approaches that gained the most support.

Council Members David Faber and Libby Wennstrom voiced strong support for option two, noting that the upcoming budget cycle and approaching holidays could complicate an immediate search. 

"It feels like we're still preparing in the dark, and we’re just immediately rolling out the process without getting bearings," Faber said in favor of slowing down the process. 

Wennstrom noted that the next three months constitute the budget cycle—"a very busy and kind of difficult, fairly loaded time, just in terms of workload."

Government structure discussed

The council briefly addressed questions about whether the city should consider changing its council-manager form of government—a topic that has surfaced in public discourse recently.

City Attorney Austin Watkins noted that changing the form of government would require either a council-initiated resolution or a citizen petition of registered voters, followed by a public vote. The current council-manager form was established by voter approval in 1998 with 65.74% support. Since then, the city has only had two city managers. 

"I tend to be just ideologically opposed to vesting more power into a single individual," Faber said regarding the strong mayor alternative. "That I think has worked very poorly in our form of congressional presidential system, as it does the world over."

It was noted that in Mayor-Council cities, it is common to hire a full-time City Administrator to handle administrative matters, similar to a City Manager hired by Council-Manager cities. According to GovSalaries, in Mayor-Council government forms, full-time “strong mayors” have salaries up to $240,000 in addition to the salary of a city administrator, which ranges between $121,868 and $208,668 a year. Currently, Port Townsend’s city mayor makes $12,900 a year in the current Council-Manager form of government. 

Council favors use of executive recruiter

There was broad consensus on using an executive recruitment firm for the permanent hiring process, citing staff capacity constraints and the need for expertise in public engagement and candidate vetting. Hiring a firm versus internal recruitment efforts would help build public trust in the process. 

"I don't know of any city, at least recently, that's done an executive search for a city manager without using a recruiter," Mauro said.

Council members also noted that McKenney, the firm that conducted the previous manager search, remains in business and could be a potential option.

Public attendance light despite online buzz

Despite significant social media discussion about Mauro's departure, public attendance at the meeting was sparse. Only four community members gave comments to the council—a notable gap between online engagement and in-person participation that several council and public members observed.

“I came here expecting a full room, because there is so much talk about John's departure, and so many judgments about John and about the council,” said resident Jason Victor Serinus about the lack of attendance during public comment. "Yet people aren't here, so I just want to point out for the record that people—it really would help, before people just spout criticism, if they were informed.” 

Next steps

The council is expected to take up the matter at its August 3 business meeting, with Mayor Howard noting the agenda for that meeting is relatively open.

"Whether we're in a dark room or not, I think we can find our way out of dark rooms," Mayor Howard said. "We've done a lot. We've had a lot of really good support."

The council plans to use the interim manager period not just for transition but also for public engagement—soliciting community input on what qualities the next city manager should possess, while clarifying that the city manager role is not a publicly elected position. 

Since this was a workshop meeting, there was no voting or decision-making.