City manager visits Civilian Review Board, highlights change management

Presenter: Just days after a Eugene Police officer’s misogynistic, racist, and violent banter went viral, and less than 24 hours after the City Council heard calls for a new police chief, Eugene’s new city manager visited the volunteer members of the Civilian Review Board. On May 12, Jenny Haruyama:

Jenny Haruyama (Eugene, city manager): I wanted to make sure that I had an opportunity to say hello and one, thank you for the work that you’re doing, particularly, I think, even more importantly, given some of the situations that we’re dealing with right now. 

So I do appreciate your dedication to this. Thank you so much for the work that you’re doing. 

I’ve got about three and a half weeks under my belt and I think I’m just barely scratching the surface. A lot to learn. But thank you for your diligence and the work that you do. I really appreciate it.

Presenter: She was asked to share her background. Eugene City Manager Jenny Haruyama:

Jenny Haruyama (Eugene, city manager): Absolutely. I have been in local government for 30 years and have been a city manager for a decade, most of my training and city manager experience coming from the state of California, serving jurisdictions probably in the 100,000-population and probably $1 billion two-year budget.

I’ve most recently wrapped up five years with Beaverton, transitioning them from a strong-mayor form of government to a council-manager form of government, which is what Eugene has. If you’d like to know more about that, there’s a liquid therapy session later on.

That’s a lot of work, but it’s very notable and the reason why I bring it up is because I think Eugene is in a transition for several areas of new chapters that need to be written.

And so I think a lot of change management and having to understand what that requires of not only the organization but appointed officials like yourself and elected officials in the community, there’s a certain cadence and a process in which that needs to happen, and a level of sensitivity.

And so I do think that that will be something that I can add some value to as we start moving forward through our budget situations and also navigating community situations that just recently occurred, as an example.

Presenter: Eugene’s new city manager expects to bring change management skills to bear as the city transitions to the priority-based budget, and as a viral bodycam recording emphasizes the need for change in the police department.

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