24
Wednesday, May 31, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
KUCERA: New city
manager was chosen
by unanimous vote
Continued from page 1
is moving very quickly for
them. Their house at the
beach will shortly be on the
market, and they had taken
Saturday off from painting to
travel to Sisters for the day.
Kucera will be wrapping
things up in Cannon Beach,
where he has been the city
manager for the last two-
and-a-half years, and will be
working on a contract agree-
ment with the City of Sisters.
He is looking forward to
the arrival of his 5-year-old
son, Rhys, in June. Rhys,
who lives with his mother in
Michigan, spends his sum-
mers with his dad. He will be
entering kindergarten in the
fall back in Michigan.
Jacobs is a kindergarten
teacher in Lincoln City and
just tendered her resignation
for next year. She is busy
looking for a teaching posi-
tion here in Central Oregon.
She is qualified to teach any
grade level and has a read-
ing specialist certification.
Jacobs’ daughter, Emily, has
just completed farrier school
and is looking forward to
being in Sisters.
Jacobs shared with The
Nugget that Kucera told her
about Sisters, “This is the
friendliest town I’ve ever
been in.” They are both look-
ing forward to calling Sisters
home. Making the move
to Sisters with Kucera and
Jacobs will be their yellow
Labrador, a cat, and a fish.
“And I would love to teach
here,” added Jacobs.
A native of Pennsylvania,
Kucera came west for his
undergraduate program at
University of Idaho where
he earned his Bachelor of
Science degree in geography.
He went on to earn a Master
of Public Administration
from Northern Michigan
University.
Prior to assuming the city
manager duties in Cannon
Beach, Kucera was the
borough manager for the
Borough of Kennett Square,
Pennsylvania, for six years
where he supervised 32 full-
time employees. Before that
he was the city manager of
Gladstone, Michigan, the
city treasurer in Munising,
Michigan, and the assistant
city supervisor for the City of
Moscow, Idaho.
Kucera still has family in
Pennsylvania — his parents
and a brother. He shared a
love for model railroads with
his father and still enjoys the
hobby. He has N- and Z-scale
models.
Kucera and Jacobs both
enjoy the outdoors — hiking,
gardening, and animals —
and Kucera also enjoys read-
ing and writing short fiction.
Looking forward to start-
ing work in Sisters, Kucera
plans during his first 30
days on the job “to do a lot
of listening and writing.” His
very first order of business
will be to “sit down with the
City staff” to listen, ask and
answer questions, and get to
know them. He also looks
forward to meeting with the
City Council to “hear their
ideas and what their vision
is for the City.” He will basi-
cally take time to get “the lay
of the land.”
“I am excited to be back in
a town that feels vibrant, with
an opportunity for growth,”
offered Kucera. “I look for-
ward to helping shape the
future in a way that benefits
the community.”
Kucera was chosen from
a field of four candidates
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for the City Manager posi-
tion. Jensen Strategies from
Portland conducted the entire
recruiting and interview pro-
cess. They advertised the
position, processed 42 appli-
cations, and conducted phone
interviews with 28 applicants
to narrow the field eventually
to eight semi-finalists who
were then interviewed by a
selection committee of two
City Councilors and two City
staff.
The finalists were cho-
sen and they were brought to
town to meet and talk with all
the City staff and the citizens
at a public reception. The
next day the candidates each
had hour-long interviews
with three different panels.
One panel was made up
of local citizens represent-
ing various interests in the
community. Another panel
included local government
officials from neighboring
Central Oregon towns as well
as the Sisters fire chief and
the high school principal. The
City Council was the third
panel.
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
Brant Kucera (right) will take the reins as Sisters City Manager in July.
Feedback collected from
the staff, the public recep-
tion, and each of the panels
was evaluated and carefully
summarized to make the task
of selecting the new City
Manager a fair and balanced
process, giving equal weight
to all opinions.
The final decision rested
with the City Council, which
spent last Wednesday morn-
ing deliberating, reviewing,
and analyzing the data and
summaries prepared for them.
According to Councilor
Andrea Blum, “The Council
had a great deal of commu-
nity and staff input to con-
sider before making its deci-
sion. We were fortunate to
be able to reach a unanimous
decision, and are eager to
get to know and work with
Brant Kucera. His educa-
tional background and years
of city administrative experi-
ence will match well with the
needs of Sisters, especially
his experience and eager-
ness to help Sisters through
an upcoming visioning and
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