Redmond leaders say Brandt did much for city

Redmond’s city manager has resigned and will take the same job in Cupertino, California at the end of August.

While David Brandt has been in Redmond only since 2009, city officials say his work has been important.

NewsChannel 21 talked Monday with a city councilor and an economic development manager, and they both had one word to describe what they will miss about Brandt: leadership.

They said he empowered his staff and made great decisions.

The city of Redmond had a rather lengthy and detailed process to fill the position of city manager in 2009.

“We interviewed people, and we brought David in, and he was the right person,” said city Councilor Ed Onimus.

Onimus worked with Brandt on a variety of projects, including the Downtown Urban Renewal District, getting Centennial Park up and running, and the upgrades at the Redmond Airport — all while facing economic struggles.

“We were facing some really difficult times with the economy,” Onimus said. “With the downturn, with the declining revenues coming into the city, we were facing some tough decisions.”

Brandt got management and staff to tighten the budget and bring the city back.

“The end result, was we didn’t suffer,” Onimus said.

“Redmond is known for being business friendly,” said Redmond Economic Development, Inc. Manager Jon Stark. “David helped carry that culture throughout his staff, and so we are hopeful the next person can do that moving forward.”

Stark says on average, city managers in Oregon stick around for about four years.

“There’s a lot of politics that occur,” Stark said. “People get elected into office, there’s a lot of personalities, there’s a lot of leadership required there and opportunities like this exist and people move on.”

For Brandt, that opportunity is moving to California, back to his hometown.

“It was a very hard decision for me, once I was offered the position, because I do love Central Oregon” Brandt said. “And this is a fantastic organization to be involved with. It’s got a great city council, and staff is tremendous.”

Brandt says the credit shouldn’t go to him, but the staff at the city for getting the city back in better shape.

“We kept going full bore,” Brandt said. “We just became more efficient at doing what we do.”

While the process to pick the next city manager is just getting started, Stark says the candidate should be a supporter of private business and economic development, something Brandt did well.