Tigard citizens have recently witnessed a lot of turmoil at City Hall with the sudden unexplained departure of former city manager Brent Stockwell and the resignation of former mayor Heidi Lueb. Now under the leadership of new Mayor Yi-Kang Hu and Acting City Manager Emily Tritsch, many new programs and strategies have been implemented to right the ship and move the city forward in a positive direction.
Tritsch, who has been deputy city manager for almost 10 months, recently sat down with Tigard Life to provide an update on all the changes at City Hall, saying that prior to becoming acting city manager Oct. 1, “I partnered with the city manager and city leadership to enhance the culture and effectiveness of our organization. While people in our community may be hearing about internal transitions for the first time, we have been working to address culture, communication, and accountability since 2024.”
Tritsch said her long-term vision is to restore trust and stability by focusing on access, communication, and accountability. She described access as giving staff and community members access to leadership to ask questions and interact on priorities.
“Our council members make themselves accessible in the many community events they attend, and our mayor has regular Meet the Mayor gatherings,” she said. “These are opportunities for individuals to access our policymakers. I have made myself available for drop-in office hours at different locations around town and at different times. So far, a handful of community members have taken me up on the invitation for a coffee talk to share their thoughts on matters of city administration.”
Tritsch’s drop-in office hours extend to staff, and “our city leaders will soon begin rotating office hours so staff can speak to any member of our organizational leadership,” she added.
Communication has been a key priority for Tritsch, who noted, “We have been more forthcoming, internally and externally, with information about culture, change management, and expectations, for example, internally sharing data from a staff pulse survey summarizing the feelings of staff on culture, trust, and communication.”
Accountability also is key, “meaning that we own our decisions and their impact, are transparent in decision-making wherever possible, that we comply with all applicable laws, we deliver on commitments (to projects and to each other), we hold each other to high standards, and we prioritize community trust by being good financial stewards, acting in the community’s best interest, responding to concerns, and ensuring fair and consistent delivery of services,” Tritsch said.
“We have already begun acting in several areas to support this long-term vision,” she added. “There have been a lot of changes since 2024, and I really think we are in a better position now than ever before.”
Tigard City Hall has been described as a “toxic workplace” that led to an exodus of top city employees over the past couple of years, and Tritsch, as acting city manager, was asked about her assessment of the current workplace culture.
“If you’re referring to the report released about the former mayor, that focused on an individual, not a workplace culture,” she said. “When receiving a complaint about behavior from an employee that is inconsistent with city policy, the city takes appropriate action. That has been true previously and is true now.
“Since 2024, the city has hosted a training for staff to provide information about how to make a formal complaint about a colleague’s behavior, and what they can expect from that process, including around confidentiality, protections from retaliation, timing of review, and what sort of information they can expect to hear as concerns are evaluated.
“The current workplace culture at the City of Tigard is moving in a positive direction. We are rebuilding trust, connection across departments and work areas, and a feeling of shared success. We do this by showing up and supporting each other consistently. It takes time to recover following transitions, but we are on a good path. I know this because of the many successes we have celebrated together, including various awards and recognitions we have received.”
Tritsch was asked what specific, measurable steps she is taking right now to address the documented issues of bullying, retaliation, and disrespect among leadership and staff and how the success of these steps will be measured.
Tritsch said these steps include open office hours, drop-in meetings, and being available to staff and community members, and the recent completion of leadership coaching for organizational leaders (directors and above) that included training and practice in emotional intelligence, communication, staff development, and other topics.
Yet another step is anonymous 360-degree performance reviews for leaders, which will be implemented in 2026. “These are different from traditional evaluations because they collect feedback from an employee’s staff and peers,” said Tritsch, adding that “anonymous reviews create space for people to feel comfortable providing honest feedback. Further, they provide an opportunity for our leaders to continue to grow and develop professionally. If concerns are raised during the review process about adherence to our Respectful Workplace Policy, these are addressed through Human Resources.”
In addition, a Respectful Workplace Training will be held during the Jan. 27 City Council meeting. Both City Council and the Leadership Team (city staff at the director-level and higher) will participate in this session that will be aired live and recorded. City managers and supervisors will receive the same training December 8 or 16, depending on their availability.
“This training will include information on expectations of leaders if concerns, such as around disrespect, are raised,” Tritsch said. “It provides guidance on documentation and communication. This is one among many manager-level trainings that will be offered throughout the year.
“Also, since 2024, we made some changes to organizational structure. For example, we shifted Human Resources from reporting to an assistant city manager to report directly to the city manager, removing an extra layer and allowing direct access for the benefit of conveying critical information and providing quick response.”
Asked how city employees can feel safe reporting concerns without fear of retaliation, Tritsch said that in addition to anonymous 360-degree performance reviews for leaders, “staff always have the ability to provide feedback and concerns safely and without fear of retaliation to HR, their supervisor, director, or another leader in the organization.”
While the city has committed to “transparency” and “honest dialogue,” the public was only told that former city manager Stockwell’s departure was a “personnel matter,” leaving people to speculate about the stability of its government.
“… There is a process that takes place within a municipality that takes time, and there are laws that limit public disclosure on personnel matters,” Tritsch said. “It will always be our priority to follow legal boundaries. To the question of public speculation on the stability of local government, as I shared earlier, I have worked with four mayors and three city managers in the last four years, and I am one of the most stable, consistent figures in city leadership over that time. We also have a mayor who has served the City of Tigard for a number of years, and as an organization, we are genuinely in good hands.”
Originally from Austin, Texas, Tritsch has lived in Oregon since 2011 and in Tigard since 2020. She received a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree in the early 2000s and, since then, has worked for the cities of New York, Austin, Hillsboro, and, most recently, Portland, before joining the City of Tigard as an assistant city manager four years ago.
“… We have had several leaders and we have accomplished a lot,” Tritsch said. “… The important piece of this is that I have been with Tigard through a lot of change. I am a stable and consistent presence, familiar with the challenges and opportunities ahead.”
