Council chooses Misley for city manager

Cory Misley, the current city manager for La Pine, will take the reins at Sisters City Hall as the new city manager effective November 26.

"I am grateful and eager to get to work serving the community of Sisters. I know how passionate and beautiful a place Sisters is to live and I am looking forward to being part of it," Misley told The Nugget.

Misley is highly thought of by a number of public officials in Central Oregon who have worked with him in a variety of capacities. He has been involved for the past couple of years on committees for Next Generation and Communications in the Oregon City/County Management Association (OCCMA). Last year he served on the Central Oregon Community College budget committee.

Currently, Misley is a member of the American Leadership Forum of Oregon (ALFO) Class 36. As part of that program, he spends time traveling around Oregon with other government, non-profit, and private-sector leaders learning how to better understand, and then contribute toward, solving challenges faced by communities.

Misley sees one of the big challenges for any small city - and Sisters in particular -in the balancing of resources and services, in the present and projecting into the future.

"Ensuring essential services are always addressed first and then exploring other opportunities requires skilled staff and strong leadership," Misley said.

He understands maintaining the quality of life that brought people here can be a challenge for any growing community while they adapt to change.

"How to address change is best rooted and informed with broad, community-driven input. The Sisters Country Horizons visioning process has been doing just that, and brought to the surface many strategies to address current and continuing challenges and opportunities," he said.

Misley thinks the Sisters community as a whole has a very strong social fabric.

"People are passionate about their community and also their local government. That creates an environment conducive to exploring ideas and capable of accomplishing a lot. The City as an entity has dedicated people working and serving the community. The quality of life has been shaped and cultivated over the years, and as a result the vibrancy of the community is inspiring. Overall, the City is in an excellent position to continue providing quality services while also working with the community to accomplish other wants and needs."

As the city manager, Misley likes to foster a team environment both with staff and the community. He believes a staff that enjoys working together will show that through the good work they do.

"That requires sharing responsibility and empowering every member of the team to contribute in important ways," he said. "Collaboration is critical for creativity, and creativity is vital for assessing operations and having an effective feedback loop. Open, honest communication coupled with empathy goes a long way to building trust, and trust is integral to maintaining a team. The same goes for maintaining trust with the community in the work we do and as public servants."

Misley describes himself as "a bit of a talker" who wants to provide thorough and articulate responses in dialog. He also understands the importance of being a good listener.

"I want to learn as much as I can about everything and understand topics from multiple perspectives, and to do that requires more listening than talking," he said. "I enjoy working with people and try to bring the right balance of seriousness and understanding, and humor, to every situation. I enjoy collating perspectives and information and working through how to put all of the pieces together to get stuff done. I am very results-oriented, but the process along the way is just as important."

On behalf of the City Council, Mayor Chuck Ryan said, "The City is very lucky to have found a local candidate who has the exact experience and qualifications that the City was searching for. We were very pleased with the overall talent of the candidate pool we interviewed, but Cory clearly rose to the top of that slate of candidates. We look forward to having Cory help advance our strategic visioning process so that Sisters will evolve into the community that our Sisters Country residents have outlined for us."

Misley's family is mostly in the Portland area, where he graduated from Oregon City High School, before receiving his bachelor of science in political science and psychology from Portland State University. He went on to earn a master's of science in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University.

He is pleased to be a little closer to Portland while also being able to stay in Central Oregon. Misley said his family is looking forward to spending more time in Sisters.

Getting outdoors in every season fills Misley's leisure time, whether camping, snowboarding, biking, or almost any other activity. He also enjoys socializing with friends, family, and community as well as reading or listening to podcasts.

For the next month, Misley will be winding down his duties in La Pine.

"I look forward to meeting all of Sisters. I'll be doing my best to reach out, but please don't hesitate to reach out to me," Misley said.