Former city manager on success and failure

Nelson answers questions from a creative community

by Courtney Clenny

Jon Nelson, former (as of recent) Corvallis City Manager, reads The Alchemist Weekly. I repeat, he reads THE ALCHEMIST! I like him already. Okay, maybe he’s “surfed in it.”

Nelson was visibly at ease when I met with him last Tuesday, his demeanor gave it away, but if it hadn’t, the gold beads displaying miniature traffic signs with phrases like “STOP working,” definitely would have. The beads were a gift from some of his employees during their last weekly meeting. “They gave me a bad time today,” Nelson kidded. June 30, 2011 marked the end of Nelson’s 18-year-stint as Corvallis’ city manager, where, for the most part, the community has held his managerial skills in high regard. As Corvallis city manager, Nelson has been responsible for Corvallis’ eight departments: police, fire, parks and recreation, library, community development, public works, finance, and administration; they are comprised of a network of over 400 employees. It has been Nelson’s responsibility to see that the visions and goals of the elected council members and mayor see the light of day. This organization of folks has brought Nelson the most pride in his career, “I really think I lead a team of professional employees that are very talented and very dedicated and when you have that as your base, good things can happen,” he said.

Undoubtedly, when it comes to city government, its administrators are going to know disappointment. “You often times learn more from failures than you do from successes. I’ve had my share of failures. We’ve had several measures that have been defeated by the voters,” Nelson recalls. One in particular was for the purchase of park land in order to preserve open space in and around Corvallis, the measure failed the first time, but after learning more about the project and the importance of it to the community, the measure eventually passed. Nelson has the same try and try again attitude when it comes to the current budget deficit the city is facing. While the operating levy the community just passed will help a great deal, Nelson laments budget issues are a “fact of life,” especially in Oregon. He’s been in the state since 1984 and recalls budget problems in the early 90s as well as the early 2000s. “It’s a cycle that repeats itself in this state and it will just mean elected officials, employees and citizens will have to learn either to live without some services or accept new funding arrangements to continue their services,” Nelson said.

Part of the responsibility of being higher up on the food chain of city officials also means maintaining the kind of town Corvallis is and should become. As a small town with a large university, there are two (maybe more) distinct beliefs in the direction of our community. “Corvallis is rich in its current state in my opinion because of the variety of stakeholders and perspectives that each put their hopes and ambitions into our community, so for those that want us to become more like Portland, or more like Bend, there are others that want to make sure that the growth that occurs doesn’t ruin their livability and it’s the mix of all that that makes us, what I think, a top city to live in,” Nelson said. “And I think that mix will continue, so are we going to disappoint some people who would like to grow faster or like to have richer amenities as they see the world, yes, but it’s the mixture that comes together that makes us what we are, not the single perspective of trying to meet one groups interest at the exclusion of all others.”

Perhaps it has been this attitude that has made Nelson such a successful city manager, even still questions have arisen about his seemingly sudden retirement. “There’s some creative writers and thinkers out there in the community,” he noted. In November 2010, it was reported in the Gazette-Times that Nelson’s five year contract had been rolled-over, as such Nelson has remained in a five year contract for a decade. Three months later, in February 2011, Nelson announced his retirement. The Gazette-Times ran an accompanying video to their story, in which Nelson said he was in a “magical time” where he had given 30 years of local government service (in three cities) and his youngest was graduating high school, so his retirement seemed appropriate. However, there have been speculations as to the details of his recent contract roll-over. “Certainly the retirement that I get like every other city employee, from PERS, the public employer retirement system, I get benefits for a deferred compensation package, I get benefits for a retiree health savings account, those are pretty standard benefits provided to city managers,” he said. Most of the details of his contract were negotiated “years ago.” Nelson said there were no substantial changes and reminded that the details of his contract aren’t a secret. “In some instances like a retiree health savings account or a deferred compensation package I would negotiate, in lieu of salary, an extra five-hundred or a thousand dollars into those accounts, but that’s all pretty standard.” Furthermore, Nelson declined (as he did last year) a cost of living increase as well as a performance pay increase, noting the severity of the budget.

Nelson has been praised for his under-the-radar sort of way of running the city. However, on the flip side can Nelson be criticized at all for his low-key tactics, would the city benefit from a stronger personality? He actually feels that he does show leadership, even if it’s not overtly obvious. “A lot of times the people that want leadership are the ones that aren’t getting what they want and they want someone to step in and do it for them, and I’ll never be their leader, and that’s just okay with me. Leadership is in the eye of the beholder based on, sometimes, what have you done for me lately,” Nelson said.

As the council looks for a replacement for Nelson, it might make sense for him to weigh in on the sort of personality to succeed him, because, well, he’s done the job for almost two decades, but Nelson won’t do it. “You know, I think it would be presumptuous of me to encourage a certain type of profile to come and work for the city. The city council has worked with a professional recruitment firm to establish the profile for my successor and they will interview in July or August, candidates for the job,” he said. “Whatever they come up with, they have that responsibility and right to determine that style of the next councilor. Certainly there are different styles that can work in a community and mine has been one of a facilitator and we’ll see who they gravitate towards.”

He’s looking forward to vacationing and traveling for the remainder of the year and while he doesn’t know what’s on the table after that, Nelson has no intentions of getting involved in city government after retirement. There will probably be some golfing and fly-fishing in the future for Mr. Nelson, though. He’s spent almost 20 years in the public-eye and finding something shocking out about Nelson could be difficult. “What you see is what you get. I don’t have and deep, dark, fun, or not even dark, I don’t have any deep, dark, light or otherwise, surprises. Sorry!” Nelson remarked. However, that won’t keep us from trying—flip over to page 12 for the Third Degree with Jon Nelson.