LO City Manager Resigns

The LO Review reported that Lake Oswego City Manager Martha Bennett has "tendered her resignation". Link to their Story here.

Here's a link to how the LO Review learned about this: from the City's website with a meeting topic for Friday, Feb 6 meeting of the City Council about "Resolution 26-10 Authorizing the Mayor to sign a Separation Agreement and General Release with the City Manager."

I sent an email to my fellow neighborhood chairs this morning after seeing the story in the LO Review asking "what the heck is going on?".

Mayor Joe Buck called me early afternoon today and said there’s a City Council meeting today. They’ll be discussing the plan forward and communicating that out.  

He said this wasn’t a surprise about Martha leaving. Why the severance pay I asked him: She has a contract, hence the severance agreement. He said this arrangement makes it faster for her to move on and for the City to move forward in their search for a new City Manager. He said it’s normal for a national search to take 6 months and to hire an interim City Manager. 

Joe also told me that Jeff Munro was named interim parks & rec director when Ivan left and was promoted by Martha several months ago to take Ivan’s position as head of parks & rec. This isn’t something that the City Council is involved with. He said the Parks & Rec board was. (From my experience, Jeff is a well respected leader within the department and a good person to work with. Just seems to me too bad that the City didn’t make a bigger celebration for his well deserved promotion.)

Joe said the City has hired law firm Miller and Nash to handle legal and they are very pleased with the 2 attorneys they have been working with. One sits on CC meetings Joe said. There is a plan to hire a City Attorney he said but for now it’s working well with Miller Nash. 

My thoughts:  We’re in good hands with Joe Buck I believe. Let’s remember Joe is volunteer in his role as Mayor.  And it must be like a full time job, especially now. 

According to chat gpt: Here’s what’s publicly available about how much Joe Buck, Mayor of Lake Oswego, Oregon, is paid in 2026: According to Lake Oswego’s municipal code, the mayor receives a monthly allowance of about $529.05 (which is intended to cover incidental expenses) — this is based on the most recent update to the code and is adjusted annually using the Consumer Price Index. That works out to roughly $6,350 per year before any cost-of-living adjustment.

We might all send Mayor Buck a thank you note!

Onward! Let’s help recruit and hire an excellent new LO City Manager. And support the Mayor and City employees until then. 

And let's also congratulate Jeff Munro for his promotion. A neighborhood chair shared with all of us today this announcement about Jeff's promotion (which wasn't in Hello LO or the LO Review). Jeff Munro’s promotion to LOPR Director was announced internally Dec 31 with this email from Martha Bennett to City employees.

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Good Morning and Happy New Year,

With great pleasure, I am writing to let you know that I’ve offered the position of Parks & Recreation Director to Jeff Munro, and that he’s accepted the position.  I am confident that Jeff will bring the same leadership and management skills that he’s developed as Deputy Director to the whole department and the community.

Jeff has been serving as Interim Director since late July.  During that time, Jeff has demonstrated great skill in leading and supporting department staff.  He’s addressed the challenges of adding a brand-new service at the Lake Oswego Recreation and Aquatic Center and of re-opening the municipal golf course.  He’s done it without missing a beat in ensuring that our “regular” Parks & Recreation services are delivered at the high level the people of Lake Oswego have come to expect.  He’s also gotten to know many of our community partners and neighborhood associations.  He’s demonstrated great communication skills, and the ability to juggle the dozens of issues that the Department faces every day.

I am grateful that Jeff is willing to serve in this role. Under his leadership, I believe that our Department and our services will thrive.  I am particularly excited about his ability to build strong staff teams, focused on demonstrating our commitment to public trust, public service, excellence and respect. 

Please congratulate Jeff the next time you see him.

Martha

Martha Bennett

City Manager | City Manager’s Office

City of Lake Oswego

PO BOX 369 | 380 A Avenue | Lake Oswego OR 97034

503-635-0214