The three finalists for Vancouver’s open city manager position gathered Thursday evening to share their visions for the future of Vancouver.
The well-attended forum at Firstenburg Community Center gave community members a chance to question the candidates about their priorities.
The finalists are Jonathan Young, Vancouver city attorney; Lon Pluckhahn, Vancouver deputy city manager; and Nancy Newton, Springfield, Ore., city manager.
The finalists were chosen following a national search, community input and preliminary screening interviews.
The city manager is one of the most consequential decision-makers in the city, according to Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.
“The city council hires one employee, and that employee hires all the other 1,800 employees,” she said. “This is one of our most important responsibilities.”
All questions submitted by the audience will be considered as the city council makes its final decision, McEnerny-Ogle said.
“We’ll meet with each one of the candidates next week,” she said. “But we’re also going to take all of your input to help us make that decision.”
The city hosted an additional forum Friday morning at Hilton Vancouver Washington.
Thursday’s questions focused on homelessness, public safety and rapid growth, as well as relationship building, fostering inclusivity and balancing the competing needs of the city.
Eric Holmes, 54, announced his retirement from the city manager position in February. He has worked for the city since 2007. His last day will be Oct. 11.
Additionally, Vancouver Police Chief Jeff Mori announced Wednesday that he will also be retiring on Oct. 11. The new city manager will be responsible for filling that position.
The city plans to make a contingent offer to a new city manager in August with the goal of hiring in early September.
Nancy Newton
Newton is the only external finalist. She has served as the city manager for Springfield, Ore., since 2020.
She was born and raised in the Portland metro area and has 24 years of experience in local government.
Between 2016 and 2020, she served as assistant county executive and chief operating officer of Sacramento County, Calif. She also held multiple roles in Clackamas County, Ore., from 2000 to 2016, including deputy county administrator from 2010 to 2016.
Vancouver’s rapid growth is partly what drew her to the position.
“You’re working on some big, ambitious goals,” she said. “And I want to be a part of that.”
Newton said the biggest challenges facing Vancouver are the housing crisis, homelessness and community safety.
If selected, she said she would work to build relationships in the community and find creative solutions to housing. She added that her experience working at the county level could help her be a conduit with Clark County.
As the only external candidate, she noted that she would bring a fresh perspective to the role. However, she added that she would build on the work of the previous city manager.
As the first woman city manager of Springfield, Ore., Newton said she has experience breaking down barriers.
“I’m a lifelong learner,” she said. “(I’m) very passionate about this work, and I really consider it my life’s calling.”
Lon Pluckhahn
Pluckhahn currently serves as deputy city manager of Vancouver, a role he has held since he started with the city in 2021. He has 30 years of experience working in local government.
Before joining Vancouver, Pluckhahn worked for 14 years as the city manager of Marion, Iowa. He also served as city manager of Platteville, Wis., from 2003 to 2007, and as the city manager of West Liberty, Iowa, from 1998 to 2003.
Pluckhahn has a child who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and his family decided to leave Iowa for Vancouver to escape legislation and rhetoric targeting LGBTQ+ individuals, he said.
Now, he is committed to fostering the inclusivity that drew his family to the region, he added.
As city manager, he wants to “break down silos between departments” and “operate as a coordinated team across the entire organization.”
“My commitment to this community is bone deep,” he said. “It was a safe place for me to bring my family, and I have a debt of gratitude to this community that I can better repay if I’m in the city manager’s chair.”
He identified the biggest challenges facing Vancouver as the housing crisis, homelessness, public safety and rapid growth, and noted that his experience as a city manager in other rapidly growing communities has prepared him for this role.
“My experience has been to be able to guide that growth and make sure that while it happens, it’s not a detriment to the existing community,” Pluckhahn said.
Jonathan Young
Young currently serves as the city attorney of Vancouver. He has lived in Vancouver since 2011 and has 20 years of legal experience. He is a specialist in Washington municipal law.
He leads a team of 34 legal professionals and advises Vancouver’s city manager and the city council on roles, duties and powers.
Before joining the city as an assistant city attorney, Young worked as a prosecuting attorney in Benton County for three years. Prior to that, he worked as an insurance defense attorney for four years.
He said his law experience prepares him for Vancouver’s transition from a small city to a large city.
“When you look around at larger, more sophisticated, more complex forms of government, like the one that Vancouver is becoming, these entities choose people with law degrees to serve as the head of their executive branch,” he said.
The No. 1 challenge the city organization needs to embrace, he said, is its intentionality.
“There’s a list of 50 high priority, high visibility projects going at every time, and I’ve been very pleased to watch our current city manager lean into conversations with the city council to ask them to prioritize which of those competing projects comes first, second and third,” he said.
He added that community members overwhelmingly cite public safety as their top concern.
Public safety extends into many areas, he said, such as “having street environments that are safe and thoughtfully laid out,” “having water systems that are thoughtfully protected,” and “compassionately and proactively addressing unsheltered homelessness.”
