Press release from the City of Eureka:

HUELife, an executive search firm has been assisting the City Council in the recruitment of the next City Manager for the City of Eureka. Richard Fursman, Co-Founder of HUELife received 40 applications for City Manager, which were due on August 31, 2019. Mr. Fursman moved 17 applications forward to first round interviews in which 10 semi-finalists were identified.

At the September 24th Closed Session meeting, Council reviewed the 10 applications and resumes and chose 6 finalists to be interviewed by the Council on October 11-12, 2019. One applicant withdrew from the process leaving the Council with 5 applicants to interview. After consultation with Richard Fursman, an alternate candidate was invited to move forward to the Council’s interview process, for a total number of 6 applicants.

The six candidates are as follows:

• Matt Brown, Finance Director, St. Helens, Oregon
• Tyler de la Plaine, Consultant
• Brian Gerving, Public Works Director, Eureka, CA
• Dean Lotter, City Manager, New Brighton, Minnesota
• Miles Slattery, Community Services Director, Eureka, CA
• Paul Van Haute, County Manager, Putnam County, Georgia

The six applicants will meet with City Council and staff and then tour the City of Eureka on Friday, October 11, 2019. At 5:00 PM on Friday a community forum will be held at the Wharfinger Building to allow the public to meet the candidates and hear a brief introduction from each candidate.

On Saturday, October 12th , applicants will be interviewed by a community panel, selected by the Mayor and Council, city department directors and the Mayor and City Council Members.

The Mayor and Councilmembers each selected a member of the community to serve on the community panel along with a member from the Eureka City School Board. The seven-member panel consists of the following individuals: Donna Wright, Heidi Benzonelli-Burden, Shelly Nilsen, Mike Buettner, Sean McLaughlin, Jeff Leonard and Mike Duncan of the Eureka City School Board.