The Brookings City Council will seek an outside perspective in an effort to improve city operations.

The hope is to increase the city’s ability to weather change without relying too much on a single individual, one of its newest members, Clayton Malmberg, said at a special meeting Tuesday. This desire is not a reflection on current staff however, he told the Wild Rivers Outpost on Wednesday.

“With the potential for changing leadership at the city as discussed in the Council meeting last night, the Council feels it would be beneficial to look at opportunities for other ways of improving,” Malmberg said via email. “With change comes an opportunity to see if any improvement can be made to the structure of management to allow for greater autonomy and efficiency in different areas of responsibility.”

The City Council unanimously directed Mayor Isaac Hodges to begin exploring opportunities for hiring a consultant or a consultant group that could improve overall city operations. Hodges said he would reach out to the League of Oregon Cities and City Attorney Lori Cooper to make those contacts.

Malmberg made the motion with his colleague Phoebe Pereda seconding it. They and their fellow city councilor, Kristi Fulton, were appointed to fill vacancies left behind by former elected officials Ron Hedenskog, Michelle Morosky and Ed Schreiber. Hedenskog, Morosky and Schreiber were ousted following a successful recall election on Nov. 7. But since Hedenskog and Morosky resigned before the results were certified, remaining Brookings City Councilors Hodges and Andy Martin were able to appoint their replacements rather than hold a special election.

Schreiber also continued as a City Councilor until Nov. 13 when his colleagues appointed Fulton so they could maintain a quorum.

The City Council’s desire to get a “fresh set of eyes” on how Brookings conducts business also came after Council President Andy Martin on Tuesday called for the city attorney to draft a separation agreement with its city manager, Janell Howard.

On Wednesday, Martin told the Outpost that Howard’s predecessor, Gary Milliman, had been city manager for about 10 years and Howard herself was promoted from within.

“We haven’t had an outside set of eyes coming in for a long time,” Martin said, adding that Cooper has experience working with the City of Medford. “There are a lot of cities that get a lot more grant money than the City of Brookings. How are they doing that?”

With a new City Council, the time was right to get an outside review of city services, Martin said.

Hodges, who was appointed as Brookings mayor on Dec. 5, said he would return to the City Council with an update on Jan. 8.

“I think it’s a step for the Council to again be ensuring the public sees that there is transparency going on,” he said.

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