The city of Newport is preparing to transition to its new city manager with the retirement of the current manager, Spencer Nebel, quickly approaching.
Nebel, who has served as city manager for the past decade, will officially retire on July 8, and the following day, July 9, Nina Vetter will take over that position.
After a lengthy interview process in April involving four candidates, the Newport City Council voted unanimously to offer the position to Vetter. The interview process, facilitated by Jensen Strategies of Portland, included staff and community receptions and panel interviews by community leaders, peer public administrators, city department heads, and the city council.
Vetter recently served as the city manager in Gresham. She previously served as city administrative officer for the Pueblo West Metropolitan District in Colorado; strategy, performance and contract compliance manager and senior budget management analyst for Colorado Springs, Colorado; and financial and administrative services associate for the USAID-State Department for the Country of Georgia.
Vetter holds a master of public administration degree from Northern Illinois University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from George Washington University.
At a meeting last month, the Newport City Council authorized a temporary position for Vetter during a transition period, so that she could became more familiar with issues and personnel before her official start date. At the council’s meeting on June 3, Nebel updated the council on that plan. Vetter will be in Newport June 18, 19, 27, 28 and July 1-3.
“She’s going to be spending time with various departments in the city during this interim period,” Nebel said. “It’s going to give her a great opportunity — before she gets burdened and trapped into the office I’ve enjoyed being trapped in for the past 10-and-a-half years — to really kind of understand what we are doing as a city, to meet some of our staff and really start developing her opinions about the way she wants to take this organization going forward when she starts on July 9.”
Nebel noted that during that transition period, Vetter won’t be available to meet with the general public “because we’ve got her pretty booked out, so we want to get her as familiar with the organization as we can before she starts being in a position where she’s dealing with specific issues on July 9.”
When contacted by the Lincoln County Leader, Vetter said, “I’m really excited and looking forward to moving to Newport, being part of the community and being able to work with the community.
“There’s a lot on the plate, and there’s a lot of great things that the city is working on,” she added. “I definitely plan to take some time when I first start to listen to the staff, the council and the community to really get a better understanding of what they see as key challenges, what’s working well, what could be working better. I really think it’s important to start with trying to better understand the community.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0