With little fanfare, the Eureka City Council this week approved a $170,000 contract for incoming City Manager Dean Lotter, who is scheduled to take over the job from a retiring Greg Sparks by Dec. 20. Other than a question about the extent of his background check from Councilmember Kim Bergel, who commented that she was […]
Greg Sparks
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Eureka, Meet Your City Manager
The first thing incoming Eureka City Manager Dean Lotter and his wife Wendy did after arriving in Humboldt County was pick up a rental car and hit the streets, set on the idea of getting lost in the city he hoped to helm. The couple — both raised in the Midwest — had already been […]
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Eureka Announces New City Manager
The city of Eureka announced today that Dean Lotter of New Brighton, Minnesota, will be the next city manager. Lotter’s official employment agreement will be coming before the city council at its Nov. 5 meeting, with an official start date coming at the end of the year after current City Manager Greg Sparks retires, according […]
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Eureka Names Six City Manager Finalists
The city of Eureka announced this morning that it has narrowed its city manager search down to six finalists, including two of its current department heads. According to a press release, the city met in closed session Sept. 24 and reviewed 10 applications for the position being vacated by current City Manager Greg Sparks’ upcoming […]
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Eureka City Manager Greg Sparks to Retire by Year’s End
Eureka City Manager Greg Sparks has announced his plan to retire at the end of the year in a letter sent to the mayor and city council. “It has been my great personal and professional pleasure to have served as City Manager of Eureka since May 2014,” Sparks wrote in his retirement letter. “After 40 […]
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‘A Comedy of Errors’
When the city of Eureka took the bold step in February of putting out a request for proposals for a lucrative marketing contract — one that for decades had been given to a single organization — the request itself outlined a bold vision. Referencing the council’s 2018 strategic visioning session, the request noted that the […]
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Eureka Staff Repeatedly Provided Council, Public Inaccurate Information About Marketing Contract Process
During a tense May 21 Eureka City Council meeting, council members lamented that what they deemed a flawed process used to select finalists for a $370,000 annual marketing contract had broken the public’s trust. Things have since gone from bad to worse amid new revelations, including that staff has repeatedly and materially misrepresented key facts […]
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Indian Island Likely to Return to Wiyot Tribe Next Month
After an unexpected delay, the unprecedented repatriation of Indian Island to the Wiyot Tribe is poised to come before the Eureka City Council for final approval next month. City Manager Greg Sparks said the return of the tribe’s sacred ancestral land — approved in principal by the council in principle Dec. 4 — was delayed […]
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Eureka Considers Moving Forward with Indian Island Transfer
The Eureka City Council is slated tonight to decide whether to move forward with transferring ownership of Indian Island back to the Wiyot Tribe. The city’s planning commission voted unanimously last month to find that the 202 acres of land the city owns on Indian Island are not required for “current or future public use” […]
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‘Long Overdue’
In late 2013, Eureka City Councilmember Lance Madsen was dying, in the last stages of his battle with lung disease. But the former police detective was also pressing to close one last case — to get his fellow councilmembers the information he believed they needed to fire City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson. In an investigative report […]
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UPDATE: Eureka Paid Former City Attorney $165K for Resignation
UPDATE: Acting City Manager Brian Gerving responded to a Journal request with a full accounting of Day-Wilson’s resignation agreement payout, which totals more than $165,000. According to Gerving, who’s in the acting role with City Manager Greg Sparks and City Clerk Pam Powell both out of the office, Day-Wilson was paid $80,794 for six months […]
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A City Attorney’s Controversial Tenure Comes to an Abrupt End
The Eureka City Council “received and accepted” the resignation of City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson on Tuesday after a hastily called closed session meeting to discuss the potential firing or discipline of an employee. In making the announcement, Mayor Frank Jager thanked Day-Wilson for her service, saying the separation was effective immediately and includes a yet-to-be-finalized […]