JOHN DAY — Citizens of John Day finally got their opportunity to speak to new City Manager Melissa Bethel during a meet-and-greet with the city administrator on Jan. 2 at the John Day Fire Hall.

“I think it went really well,” Bethel said. “The town is very welcoming. I feel like everybody was nice — even both sides of whatever political thing is happening here. I appreciate that.”

Bethel said she’d hoped to get out into the community to meet and talk to more people, but obligations at City Hall have largely prevented that thus far. Now in her first full week on the job, Bethel said there is a lot to do in getting the city to a place where it runs smoothly.

“I think because of past turnover in John Day there is a lot that we’re still working on crawling out of,” she said. “The budget, the audit — and it’s not anything bad, it’s just delayed, so there is a lot of work that we need to put in and to get caught up on.”

Bethel previously served as city manager of Lakeside, a Coos County town of 1,900 residents. John Day has been without a city manager since the departure of Rick Allen, who left in June amid a conflict with city staff.

Immediate priorities for Bethel will be getting out in the community and forging relationships, getting a handle on all of the ongoing projects the city has going and hitting budget season running.

“Most cities you would walk into and work on current things,” she said. “We’re still playing catch-up.”

Bethel said catching up is something she hopes to accomplish within her first two months on the job.

“I’m giving myself 60 days’ grace, and then we’re going to be, hopefully, running on all cylinders,” she said.

Bethel did say there are some things she’s looking to change, with a focus on employee education.

“I think in small towns — especially small towns — if you haven’t had direction in a long time, things get lax or new employees that haven’t worked in government don’t understand government because they’ve never worked there,” she said.

Bethel also highlighted council meeting agenda changes. Those will include more staff reports, the inclusion of city financial information within city council packets for the entire community to see and changes to the way councilors sign and approve checks.

“Some minute, little things like that, and then of course some bigger procedural things may be happening in the future, but for now I’m assessing and just trying to get things to where we’re operating smoothly,” she said.

Long-term goals for Bethel include getting the city’s budget to a place where it should be — “operating where we have the money we need to do the projects we need to do,” she said.

Another long-term goal of Bethel’s is keeping the city free of perceived scandal.

“If the public isn’t seeing anything or there isn’t anything to think about with your city, that means you’re operating really well,” she said. “We have a good group here. I’d like to be at full staff in three years, meaning we have a finance person that’s not contract, we have a recorder, we’re fully staffed where we need to be with public works, streets, sewer — I think that would be the dream.”

Bethel reiterated her excitement in being in John Day, vowing to become a true member of the community here.

“I am excited to be here and I’m excited to be a member of this community,” she said. “I’m going to be here for as long as they’ll have me.”

The Bethel File

NAME: Melissa Bethel

AGE: 54

OCCUPATION: John Day city manager

HOMETOWN: Sandpoint, ID

FAMILY: Three grown children: oldest, Amanda, lives in Spokane with her two daughters; middle child, Zach, lives in Hawaii; youngest, Brooke, lives in New York

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in politics from Whitworth University in Spokane, law degree from Gonzaga

SALARY: $130,000 per year