Swansen resigns Village post

By Lauren Heaton

Village Manager Eric Swansen resigned his position last week after taking a job as city manager of Sunnyside, Wash. Though he did not return calls for comment, Swansen was quoted in an article published in the Yakima Herald last week saying that the position in Sunnyside offered “more salary and more responsibility than his current job.” Swansen and his wife Shelley also own property near Sunnyside, which they might use for retirement, the article said.

Though his contract requires that he give the Village 60 days resignation notice, Swansen requested in an executive session at Village Council’s meeting Monday, May 19, that he be released earlier, Council President Judith Hempfling said this week. Council members agreed, allowing Swansen to give 30 days notice. His last day is June 18, according to the Yakima Herald, but he agreed to be available by phone up to 30 days after his departure to help his successor make a smooth transition, according to Hempfling.

The Village plans to hire an interim manager for at least six months and hopefully up to a year, to allow ample time for a deliberate search for a new Village manager, Hempfling said. Council members plan to work with Village Solicitor John Chambers, who is the former manager of Springboro, and the International City/County Management Association, which has a pool of candidates who are willing to serve as interim managers, to find a temporary replacement for Swansen.

“I feel very confident that we’ll be able to get a good person in as interim manager,” Hempfling said. “We don’t want to rush the search process for a [permanent] manager, and this will give us time to be thoughtful about the replacement process.”

Swansen came to Yellow Springs from Jackson Hole, Wyo. in January 2005 to replace former Village Manager Rob Hillard. He was selected from a pool of 120 candidates partly due to his experience as the city manager of Farmersville, Calif., from 2003 to 2004 and his previous jobs as a senior management analyst with the city of Shoreline, Wash., and Deschutes County, Ore., beginning in 1994.

Last month Council renewed a two-year contract for Swansen that was scheduled to expire in December 2010. According to Village Clerk of Council Deborah Benning, the Village manager is currently compensated at $81,900.

Over Swansen’s two-year tenure, he stabilized the Village’s finances, and the 2007 budget ended with more than a $1 million surplus, the highest in many years.

Swansen also initiated several pieces of somewhat controversial legislation. Two months after stepping into office, he recommended an $8.4-mill property tax levy to raise $740,000 to balance the Village budget, which passed by just one vote in 2006. The following year Swansen recommended that the Village purchase a $3.5 million utility substation and sign a 50-year contract with a new coal plant in Meigs County, neither of which were approved by Village Council.

But Hempfling said on Tuesday that Swansen had worked hard for the Village to raise revenues and to cut spending by eliminating positions, including a Village planner and a manager’s assistant, which has increased the manager’s workload.

“I know Eric has worked really hard, and I’m sure it’s quite a challenging job,” she said. “We’ll miss him, and we wish him well.”

Swansen was chosen out of a pool of four other candidates for the position in Sunnyside, a city of 15,000 located in the Yakima Valley of eastern Washington about two and a half hours from both Seattle and Portland. The city’s $22 million budget is allotting its manager a $95,000 salary, plus $12,000 in moving costs, a $350 monthly vehicle allowance and a severance package with six months pay, according to the Yakima Herald.
Swansen was also one of five candidates for city manager of Ontario, Ore., a city of 11,000 that hoped to double its population in the next 20 years, according to the Argus Observer.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com