Norman, Okla. – City manager candidate Harold ”Andy” Anderson told an audience in Bend last month that he wanted to come back to the mountains and Oregon where he had previously lived for almost a decade.

He may get his wish. Bend city councilors met Friday morning in an executive session to compare notes and tendered a verbal job offer to Anderson Friday afternoon, said Councilor John Hummel.

Hummel said he had not yet heard if Anderson had accepted the offer.

Anderson’s hiring would bring to a close a six-month search that started when former manager David Hales quit in November last year. Hales announced his resignation at a packed city council meeting after cleaning out his office the night before.

Hales cited differences with the city council as a reason for his sudden departure.

If Anderson accepts the job, as he is expected to do, Bend will get a manager with more than two decades of city management experience. Roughly 10 years of that experience includes working with Oregon land use laws from the time when he served as manager in Medford.

All the public attention doesn’t particularly suit Anderson, who counts solitary pursuits such as gardening and hiking among his primary interests.

Those people who know Anderson in Norman, Okla., attest to his affinity for the outdoors. Assistant City Manager Scott Martin said he and Anderson have spent time away from work together climbing mountains in Utah and Colorado.

”We’re a very fortunate city, we have a real tight management team,” said Martin, who was hired by the city’s previous manager but has worked the majority of his tenure under Anderson.

Martin’s office sits next door to Anderson’s at city hall, a spacious low-slung building built in 1999. Martin confides that he has mixed feelings about giving his boss a strong endorsement. He doesn’t want to see him leave. Others at city hall and in the community said they felt the same way.

They credit Anderson as a steadying influence in Norman where a well-educated public living in the shadow of the University of Oklahoma often views city hall with skepticism.

Norman’s city council is a diverse group of business professionals and academics that represent eight different wards in the city. Mayor Ron Henderson, the council’s ninth member, who was elected by the public at-large, is nearing the end of his third term after coming up short in a re-election bid earlier this year. Henderson said the council has struggled to find middle ground on just about every issue it has faced.

”At best, it’s been a five-to-four council,” he said in reference to the council’s voting record. ”And it’s never the same five people. It’s the worst world for a city manager.”

At the council meeting Tuesday night, councilors wrestled with budget cuts for more than six hours before passing the city’s financial blueprint just before 1 a.m. The move came after the budget prepared by Anderson had been rejected earlier by councilors over concerns about proposed layoffs. The prospect of job losses comes at a time when Norman city employee unions are also faced with a possible reduction in benefits as part of the city’s ongoing contract negotiations.

On Tuesday night, some 70 union members representing police, fire and public works employees picketed city hall before the meeting. The workboot-clad crew later used the public comment period to rail against management, including Anderson.

Butch Crawford represents firefighters in contract negotiations as president of the Norman firefighters’ association. Crawford said Tuesday night that Anderson has been difficult to deal with at the bargaining table. He described the 59-year old manager as a ”tough negotiator.”

”If you want hard line (with employee groups),” Crawford said. ”He’s your guy.”

But if Anderson has a way of frustrating union negotiators, he does it in a way that reflects his subdued approach to management.”He doesn’t like to argue,” Crawford said. ”And he won’t argue with you. If you get into a disagreement, he’s going to end it.”

Crawford’s observations are shared by others who describe Anderson as quiet and direct. He can sometimes come off as cool or withdrawn.

”When you first meet Andy, he is that way. He is very internal with his thoughts and he’s very careful. Once you get to know him and he gets to know you, he is very forthcoming,” said Brad Gambill, the former director the Norman utilities department.

Gambill retired last year after nine years with the city, including three under Anderson. But those who work closely with Anderson also describe him as sociable and even lighthearted in many circumstances.

”Andy is really easygoing and easy to get along with,” said Bill Pain, a friend of Anderson’s and president of the local Rotary service club of which Anderson is a member.

Pain said Anderson is one of the few members who can almost always be found sitting at a different table meeting new people during the club’s weekly meetings.

Anderson has also been active in the Norman Chamber of Commerce, serving as a vice president on the board of directors. He regularly attends the group’s meetings, said Ted Greb, president of the Norman Chamber of Commerce.

”Andy is not one of these managers you never see,” said Greb. ”You will see him out of the office involved in things.”

Anderson’s willingness to get involved socially in his community is one of the reasons that city officials hired him in Norman four years ago. He has also promoted more public involvement at city hall through a citizen’s academy that helps educate residents about the inner workings of their local government.

Under Anderson, the city has involved some 300 residents in the update of its 20-year comprehensive plan.

”If you compare Norman to other big names like Boulder and Eugene, we’re way behind. But in terms of Oklahoma we’re doing well,” said Dianne Fitzsimmons, a former reporter for the Oklahoman, the daily newspaper based in nearby Oklahoma City.

A mother of four who works now as a secretary at the university while her husband studies for his graduate degree, Fitzsimmons has been active in the campaign to establish a ”greenbelt” inside Norman. Fitzsimmons said the greenbelt committee wants Norman to find ways to link parks and other open spaces with a network of trails. The city council recently agreed to make the greenbelt committee a permanent standing commission under the council, said Fitzsimmons. Like other residents who serve on city committees, Fitzsimmons said she had only very limited dealings with Anderson.

”But there was no doubt in my mind he supported our efforts,” she said.

Other people who work in and around city hall said Anderson is comfortable delegating many day-to-day responsibilities to his department heads.

In a city with more than 700 employees, people don’t expect Anderson to have his hand in every piece of city business.

”Andy is definitely not a micromanager, but he is also very aware of what is going on,” said Mary Hatley, who has served as Norman’s city clerk for 28 years.

Like assistant city manager Martin, Hatley said she hopes that Anderson doesn’t get the job in Bend so that he might stay in Norman.

Mayor Henderson said he and Anderson now enjoy a strong relationship that has helped the city of Norman accomplish, or at least start on, some of its most ambitious projects in recent memory. Henderson said those achievements include a downtown revitalization project and a wastewater treatment expansion that will help prepare the city for it’s projected population growth.

On Thursday, Anderson and the mayor attended a groundbreaking ceremony for a manufacturing firm that is opening its first office in the United States and chose Norman.

It wasn’t always handshakes and smiles for the two city leaders. Not long after taking office as mayor, Henderson offered sharp criticism of the city manager. In a move that he now describes as one of his larger political blunders, Henderson called for Anderson’s resignation in the local newspaper, The Norman Transcript.

The two have since mended fences, but the dispute had lasting impacts on their relationship.

”Had that situation not happened, I’m not sure Andy would be talking to (Bend),” said Greb, the chamber president.

City Clerk Hatley said the dispute was more about personality and politics than anything related to Anderson’s job performance.

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Henderson said he wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Anderson as a city manager. However, he also is quick to point out that in his opinion Anderson would not be a good fit for a community that is looking for a flashy or dynamic leader.

”As a professional city manager, a community would be hard pressed to find anybody better that Andy Anderson,” he said.

Eric Flowers can be reached at 541-504-2336 or at eflowers@bendbulletin.com.