The Burns City Council held a special meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 16, to discuss the city manager position.

At the council meeting on Oct. 9, the council voted to stop the recruitment process for a city manager and start the process to hire an interim city manager. The city then contacted the League of Oregon Cities (LOC) to assist in the search for an interim.

Mayor Jerry Woodfin told the council that the LOC provided him with three recommendations for the position: Don Munkers, who served as Burns city manager in the past; Rick Allen, a former interim city manager for La Pine and Sisters; and Richard Jordan.

Woodfin stated that the city is looking to hire the interim for six months before beginning the process of hiring someone permanently. As far as compensation, Woodfin recommended the city offer an amount equal to half of the current city manager’s yearly salary.

The council expressed some concern about housing for an interim because of the housing shortage in the community.

After some discussion, the council agreed that Munkers would be the first choice as an interim, as he is familiar with the city. Allen would be the second choice. The council would like the interim to begin Nov. 18, and on Jan. 1, the council plans to start the search for a full-time city manager.

The council will revisit the issue on Wednesday, Oct. 23 (at its regular meeting), after having contacted the three candidates about their availability.

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While working on the street improvement project, Granite Construction encountered “unsuitable material” at West Adams and West Washington streets. The company provided two options to fix the problem.

The council reviewed the options and, following the engineer’s recommendation, voted to accept the first option at a cost of $186,550.