Heidi Behrends Cerniwey is city manager of Ellensburg, Washington, a community with a population of about 21,000. Long ago, Ellensburg competed with Olympia to be the state capital of Washington but lost the tussle because it was the scene of a big fire on the Fourth of July 1889. The consolation prize was Central Washington University, which state leaders located there. 

The community’s economy is based on public employment (the university and a hospital district, among others) and the hay industry. Cerniwey was appointed city manager three years ago. The conversation that follows highlights her career path and the wisdom she accumulated along the way. 

Cerniwey did not know immediately that she wanted to work in the public sector. As she says, “I was one of those kids who had no idea what they wanted to do. I wanted to do everything.” Although she started out as a student of civil engineering, she soon learned that what she really wanted was to work with people and after working in nonprofits and getting her first public sector job, she was hooked.

In fact, her current job, which she began three years ago, is the fulfillment of her dreams. In one of her early public sector jobs, a former boss asked her what she wanted to be. Her answer: “I want to be a city manager.”

B&G: Tell us a little about your background.

Heidi Behrends Cerniwey: I grew up in a very small town in southwest Minnesota. Actually, my first eight years were on a family farm—dairy, corn and soybeans. And in the 70s, when the dairy industry was dying for small farms, my dad took a job as the only employee for the city of Wilmont, Minnesota, which had a population of about 300 people.

So, he was the chief of police. He did water, maintenance, sewer, streets, parks, snow plowing. You name it, he did it. So that was my first exposure to public service. And in a very small town with a family of six and both parents desperately striving to continue farming, we had a pretty humble existence.   After high school graduation in a neighboring town, I was going to stay in the area, but I had a boss who said, ‘You need to go and experience the world’ and so I packed up and went to the urban experience of the University of Minnesota. It took me a number of years to finish my degree. I ended up getting married and my husband passed away when I was 26, so I was a very young widow. Twelve years after I began, I finished my undergrad degree at Metro State University in St. Paul Minnesota.

B&G: Are there lessons you learned from that time of your life?

HBC: Of course. You have to learn what you're made of and learn how to move through the world with resilience. It was absolutely a life-changing experience.

B&G: After some time working for nonprofits you entered the world of local governments. How did that come to pass?

HBC:  I stumbled into public service and absolutely loved it. It was an opportunity to be of service which was always near and dear to my heart. And it was an opportunity to impact daily life -- the basic services that touch all of us in a community every single day: our water, sewer, public safety. 

B&G: What was your first job in the public sector? 

HBC: I started in human resources in Lacey, Washington, where I stayed for six years, and then moved to Tumwater, Washington for nine years. They had a new city administrator, and they were looking for a communications person. I had transferred into public affairs in Lacey. And so, I decided that I needed to take a risk if I wanted to grow and advance so I made a lateral move as their communications person.

It was the best move I ever made. You know, they say ‘pick your boss’, and I chose well. My boss, the city administrator, was a person who was willing to invite me to the table to learn. And within a couple of years, I was promoted to the assistant city administrator there and took on a number of projects, said “yes” to every opportunity and learned my way through city government. After a few years, I went back and got my master's degree from The Evergreen State College. And that was while I was working full time – essentially working 60 hours a week and going to school full-time. 

B&G: As you moved your way through the ranks was being a woman ever a challenge?

HBC: I want to be an awesome city manager, not just an awesome female city manager. I'm still the only female in the room sometimes. Ellensburg has a number of women in community leadership positions, so I’m not an anomaly. 

Sometimes people see me differently. Still, I try not to make that more of a barrier or an excuse. If people are not treating me the way I want to be treated, or they try to talk around or over me, I've learned to say something. I’ve also grown thicker skin over the years and I don’t let others’ shortcomings or personal defects impact how I show up.

B&G: On the flip side, do you have to behave differently as a city manager because you are a woman?

HBC: I don’t think so. No job is too small for me—that’s an intrinsic value. And so, when people are coming in, and it’s like ‘Hey, you want a cup of coffee?’ I’ll get you a cup of coffee. And I know a lot of females that won’t do that, specifically. But I want to show up with humility, true to myself, and not try to play a particular role. I'm going to show that I'm here to help out, listen for inspiration and understanding, and make sure others feel welcome, but also, I will speak my mind and I’m not afraid to make decisions, take risks, and advocate for my team. And, you know, I get to develop my own style of authentic people-centered leadership. And that's been shaped by being female in oftentimes a male dominated field. 

B&G: How did you prepare for the new job as city manager?

HBC: Before I applied for a city manager role, I learned as much as I could about the various functions of local government. Once I landed the job, in addition to one-on-one sessions with my new councilmembers, I set out and interviewed all of the county commissioners, community and service group leaders, and my own team members to learn about opportunities and challenges to inform my action plan and identify early wins for my first few years in the role.

B&G: Were there immediate challenges you had to confront?

HBC: I knew there were some relationship challenges between the city and the county, but there was also the opportunity to do something different with that. The county I came from was really great at thinking and acting regionally, and this county had not done that. People describe Ellensburg as a blue dot in a red Sea. And there was some historical clashing between the reds and the blues. 

B&G: What have you been doing about that?

HBC: One of the things we've been working on is collaborative governance. When I came here, the county commissioners said they'd been working for twenty years on an agreement between the city and the county about how to do development in the urban growth area. And there was finally a breakthrough consensus, ‘We think we're ready to talk about that again.’

So, I got people back to the table and we got that agreement across the finish line within a few months. Now, we’re working with the county on an economic development strategic plan that we’ve developed together. We’ve got a lot of partnership projects underway now, including tapping the collaborative power of Central Washington University in economic and community development which also has new and amazing community-centered leadership in the past three years.

B&G:  If the county is a very red county and you’re a blue dot, are there many areas in which you can cross the divide?

HBC: A lot of the issues we (city and county) share are the same and they're not partisan. We continue to build opportunities for open dialogue and discussion and disagreement on the basics. We all want the same thing. We want jobs for our kids. We want safe drinking water, quality of life, and to ensure that we grow in responsible, additive ways that respect our cultural assets, environment, and history.

Those are things that we can all agree on. And that's what we try to focus on. Around the edges, we can talk about the things that might be more controversial.

B&G: We know that affordable housing has been an issue for you. Can you comment on that?

HBC: We’re not the only community that has challenges with affordable housing and homelessness. Before I got here, this community had voted for an affordable housing sales tax. They've worked on using public property that was surplus to community needs for affordable housing. Ellensburg has used nearly every tool in the local government toolbox to impact housing affordability.

We’re working on a project with Habitat for Humanity to create a cottage-style development as an example of smaller types of affordable housing. And we’ve also worked with our community action agency to partner in the purchase of an old motel to convert into affordable and transitional housing.

B&G: What are your other big efforts right now as city manager?

HBC: Economic development is one. We’re looking at how Central Washington University (CWU) can play a different role in economic development. I’m trying to mobilize partnerships and get folks to work together across functions within my organizations and across sectors outside the city.

I think another one is telling our story. It's hard to get messages to people because of the kind of fragmented system of communications. We’re trying to up our game when it comes to sharing our story and getting it out. Our local newspaper’s readership is waning, and we've seen an increase in misinformation and antagonism on social media. We need to find ways to reach people to help them understand the local government that works for them. That's always a challenge.

And then there’s public safety. 

B&G: That’s kind of surprising. In a community where hay is a big product, you’d picture everyone just leaving their doors open and their cars unlocked.

HBC: In fact, people still leave things unlocked. But every community deals with crime and drugs. We have a campus with students that can be pretty vulnerable to drugs and lifestyle exploration. That's a challenge in every community.

B&G: There’s a widespread belief that for women in government, it may be particularly difficult getting along well with police because that’s typically a very masculine environment. Has that been difficult for you.

HBC: No. Here’s my perspective. My dad was a cop—he was a generalist in our hometown, but he retired from law enforcement. I essentially grew up in a law enforcement family. I don’t know what it’s like to be a cop, but I know what it was like to be a cop’s kid. 

So, getting along with the police has not been a problem as a city manager because I don't micromanage. That’s probably the best thing for police. I need to know that I have a good chief, that I trust my chief, and that we have an effective system of accountability in place. Then, I respect that system, unless there’s a problem. Police have a tough job and I deeply appreciate the complexities of the decisions they make to ensure our communities are safe. As a result, I’ve had a good working relationship with my law enforcement colleagues and reports over the years. 

B&G: One last question. How supportive are you of women who are working for you?

HBC:  I am very supportive of women—those who work for me, those who are struggling to find their worth, and those aspiring to lead in other disciplines. My former boss had a little sticky note next to his desk that I have since replicated…it says, “Grow people.” I believe in giving people the opportunity to be at the table to experience different things. That's how I got to learn and grow and be exposed to more than just whatever was in front of me or outlined in my limited job description.

 I try to share my story of learning and growth wherever I’m invited. And when I set the table for a conversation or to explore solutions for adaptive challenges, I invite people who may be creative, have a unique perspective, and are interested in learning and growing to take a seat. Afterall, I never know what I might learn from someone else. 

I have some amazing young men in my organization, too. And they are hungry to learn and experience new challenges. I try to give those that express interest, regardless of gender, an opportunity to be at the table. In a rural community, we need to make sure we're growing our next generation—and we’re preparing everyone to serve with their heart and full competence. That’s an important part of my city’s succession plan and critical to leading an effective public service organization. 

#WomenInGovernment #CitySuccessionPlanning #EllensburgWACityManager #CityManagerCareerPath #CityManagerRole #CityAffordableHousingManagement #CityHomelessnessManagement #CityManagerPoliceRelations #CityAccountabiliity #CityTransparency #CityPerformanceManagement #EllenusburgWashington #CityManagement #CityCountyRelations #CityCountyCollaboration #CityCountyEconomicDevelopment #WomenSupportingWomenInLocalGovernment #CityPublicSafetyManagement #SocialMediaAntagonism #FragmentedMediaChallenge #CityCountyPartisanChallenge #EllensburgCommunityDevelopment #CentralWashingtonUniversity #StateandLocalGovernmentManagement #StateLocalGovernmentPerformance #BarrettandGreeneInc