REEDSPORT - A divided City Council voted 4-3 Monday night to name Roberta Huddleston, of Kuna, Idaho, Reedsport's new city manager.

A former city administrator in Mt. Angel, a city of 3,121 north of Salem, Huddleston was chosen from a four-candidate field that included Reedsport Police Chief Bob Gross. The motion stipulated that the manager-elect undergo a background check before taking over the position from City Recorder Jay Cable, who has held the title pro tempore since the Jan. 21 departure of Jim Hough.

The council also had evaluated Marysville, Wash., Mayor David Weiser and Rick Hohnbaum, a former mayor and city councilor in Sherwood.

Voting with the majority were Mayor Keith Tymchuk and councilors Ruth Ann Hash, Garth Pollard and Stan Washington. Councilors Russ Ekstrom and Debbie Williams cast dissenting votes, as did Richard Oba, who had been appointed to the council earlier in the four-hour meeting. An 85-minute executive session preceded the vote for Huddleston.

The city manager selection vote was originally scheduled for a June 9 special session but twice was postponed for lack of a quorum. Candidates were interviewed individually by the Council on June 5 and 7.

Despite lacking the mayoral experience of Weiser and Hohnbaum, Huddleston, who left her position in Mt. Angel in May 2002, won over councilors with her wide-ranging responsibilities there and especially her rapport with city residents who attended a June 7 public review to meet the candidates, Tymchuk said after the meeting.

"I felt the council was impressed with her people skills and the fact she's had a wide experience of municipal government at every level," he said. "The ability to deal with the public is important for a city manager and he must function in the community."

Although the council gave Gross serious consideration, his plan to simultaneously serve as city manager and police chief struck some members as unworkable, according to Pollard.

"It's just too much for one man to handle them and still do a commendable job," he said. "They're both full-time positions. I'd have voted for Gross only as city manager."

Huddleston, whose telephone number is not listed, could not be reached for comment this morning. Reedsport city officials declined to release her contact or employment information until later today, pending notification of Huddleston about the Monday vote.

Earlier in the meeting, which was attended by about 16 people, the council voted 4-2 to appoint Oba to fill the Precinct 5 (Forest Hills) seat vacated by Cal Henry on May 5 after he suffered a stroke. After the appointment, Oba was sworn into office by Cable and took part in the council's remaining votes.

In other business, the City Council:

€ awarded a contract to provide workers' compensation insurance to city employees, in the amount of $33,802, to the lowest bidder;

€ accepted a temporary easement for a construction staging zone at the American Bridge factory at Bolon Island;

€ accepted a permanent easement for water and utility lines to serve the American Bridge plant;

€ accepted a Division of State Lands easement for a project to build a water line to the Gardiner area;

€ approved a fire-protection agreement with American Bridge for the Bolon Island facility, which is outside the Reedsport Fire Department's normal service zone. The deal requires the company to inform the city of potentially dangerous sites at its compound, such as hazardous-material storage places; and

€ approved a draft version of a wastewater management plan designed to overhaul the city's deteriorating sewer and storm-drainage pipes. The plan includes 20-percent rate increases in sewer service in fiscal 2004 and 2005 to raise money for pipe repairs and, later, upgrades to the city's wastewater treatment plant.