NEWBERG, Ore. — Newberg City Manager Will Worthey is the first to admit he had no intention of becoming a city manager. The Newberg Public Library director was appointed interim city manager in 2021 following a tumultuous decade that saw 10 interim or permanent city managers.
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Now, the city may have a single city manager for the next 10 years as Worthey and city council agreed to an employment contract that will see him retire in the role—fulfilling a promise he made to the late City Councilor Denise Bacon in 2022.
“It feels good to know I’m keeping my promise to Denise Bacon,” he said after the contract was finalized. “She asked that I stay on and do this until I retired and to never give up on the ship. So it’s good that we were able to come to that agreement.”
The Librarian
It’s not where Worthey thought he’d end up. His career from the beginning was almost entirely focused on the library ecosystem.
Worthey grew up in Dumbarton, Scotland, a town he describes as a suburb of Glasgow. Raised by a single mother in a low-income household, he said he spent much of his time at the public library—a refuge during a difficult time. His first job was restocking library shelves at 14.
“I’ve always liked science fiction and history. Those were the kinds of things I read a lot,” Worthey said. “The librarians at Dumbarton Public Library were always willing to help me with my homework and things like that. I really connected with them, and they filled in some gaps for me by letting me spend so much time at the library.”
Worthey earned a master’s degree in medieval history from the University of Glasgow and a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Strathclyde, also in Glasgow. From there, he worked in libraries or in what he called “library-adjacent work,” such as archiving.
He came to the United States in 1997, landing in New York City and eventually moving to Tennessee for another archiving job. Realizing he wasn’t happy with the work, Worthey took a job as the youth services librarian in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. While there, he introduced one of the first “read to a dog” programs in the country, later writing about the idea in The Oregonian while serving as library director at Garden Home Community Library.
“As I did a little research and learned more about how these programs work, I became a convert,” Worthey wrote in a 2014 column. “Aside from the obvious fact that children reading to dogs is brilliantly cute, I was able to learn more about the literacy benefits of human-and-animal pairings for young readers.”
He stayed in Oak Ridge for nine years before deciding to move his family to a West Coast city as his children reached school age. He learned that Oregon offered consistent funding for public libraries and worked in multiple systems across Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington counties, moving from substitute librarian to youth services librarian at Garden Home Public Library, and then to library director at North Plains Public Library.
In 2019, Worthey saw that the Newberg Public Library was hiring a new director.
“I interviewed in Newberg, thinking I was just going to use it as a warm-up or practice,” he said. “I knew Lake Oswego and Oregon City were going to open up soon, and I wanted to be ready. I’d never been to Newberg or Yamhill County, and I didn’t know anyone here. So it was a surprise when I was offered the job—and I took it.”
Worthey started at the library just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, requiring adjustments to keep staff employed and paid. While the building was closed, the library began offering parking lot pickups. When masks and hand sanitizer were scarce, Worthey and his staff made and distributed them to the community.
Those efforts caught the attention of the City Council and then-Mayor Rick Rogers, who were searching for an interim city manager.
Interim City Manager
Former City Manager Dan Weinheimer resigned 20 months into his tenure for unknown reasons, according to a 2021 article from McMinnville’s News-Register. At the meeting prior to his resignation, Weinheimer said the city was actively recruiting for 10 positions and had another 30 recently filled or needing to be filled.
Worthey said Rogers approached him after traditional hiring methods had failed. According to City Councilor Elise Yarnell Hollamon, who was newly elected at the time, Worthey’s name was raised because of his reputation for honesty and integrity.
He agreed to serve as interim city manager for six months and to assist with hiring a full-time replacement. Six months came and went, and the council offered Worthey the full-time position.
“Unfortunately, they liked what they got,” Worthey said. “I had a lot of people—especially some of the public works guys, police officers, the rank and file—who were asking me to stay. I made sure my wife had the last say, and once I received approval, I told council I’d be open to being interviewed for the position.”
While calling his appointment “unfortunate” might sound odd, Worthey explained the sentiment.
“This was never my career,” he said. “The fulfillment of my career was to be the library director of the Newberg Public Library—a full-service library. This was a weird train on a different track. This was nothing I was preparing for with my experience or education. I did not line up for this when the door was knocked.”
Because of that, Worthey insisted on going through the same scrutiny any new hire would—a process of his own design called a double-blind hiring process. Candidates are scored independently by a hiring panel, and the hiring manager reviews the scores anonymously. The top scorer is offered the position, ensuring the city hires based on merit, not favoritism.
Despite competition, Worthey scored the highest and accepted the job.
Big Changes in the First Years
Stepping into the full-time role, Worthey wanted to ensure he was equipped to manage a city. Essentially serving as Newberg’s CEO leading a staff of 150 full-time employees, he enrolled in a Master of Public Administration program at Portland State University, attending classes nights and weekends, eveuntually graduating with honors in 2024.
“I knew enough, but I also knew what I didn’t know,” he said. “There were some definite blind spots that weren’t covered by my prior education, and I wanted to make sure I addressed them.”
During that course, he learned about organizational metaphors describing how cities operate—specifically, viewing them as either machines (structured, rigid, with predetermined roles) or living organisms (adaptable, responsive, evolving).
Inspired by the latter, Worthey changed how Newberg allocates staff time and funding. Instead of assigning fixed percentages, allocations are now adjusted dynamically to meet evolving priorities—allowing city resources to flow efficiently to where they’re most needed.
That approach helped the city balance its budget by allocating work where it was most needed and begin paying down debt.
He also strengthened an existing code of conduct called STRIVE, an acronym for Service, Teamwork, Responsibility, Integrity, Value, and Equity. While the system predated him, Worthey emphasized promoting and celebrating the STRIVE pillars, launching an employee recognition program, and integrating the values into hiring.
“I’m very proud of the fact that the city has gained back the public’s trust,” he said.
Because of that trust, the six city councilors and mayor unanimously approved a nine year employment agreement that raises Worthey’s salary to match those of city managers in similarly sized communities and includes 10 months of severance pay.
“The last council, nor this council, wanted to give you a long-term contract because we’ve been through a lot of city managers who left with big, fat severance checks,” said Newberg Mayor Bill Rosacker during the October 6 city council meeting. “Will, you’ve earned this long-term contract. Without you, there’s no telling exactly where the city would be—and it wouldn’t be in as good a place as it is, and we probably wouldn’t enjoy being city councilors under someone else the way that we do right now. I feel that the city is working well, and you’re about 95% of the reason why that’s taking place. I couldn’t be any happier to give you this long-term contract, and I hope we continue to work together for a long time.”
Denise Bacon’s Promise
In October 2022, almost exactly a year after Worthey was appointed interim city manager, City Councilor Denise Bacon died at 56 after suffering lung complications. Worthey had developed a close connection with Bacon, who was known as a fierce advocate for bridging ideological gaps in the community.
“She was an absolutely fearless, tireless champion for this city,” Worthey said. “Everything she did was bent toward helping this city.”
He received a call from Bacon in her last days. Unable to speak, she dictated a message through a nurse.
“On the last day of her life, she spent time calling each of us to ask different people to do their duty for the city,” he recalled. “I’d never received a phone call like that before.”
Her message to Worthey was clear: she saw stability forming in the city and wanted him to keep working as city manager, asking him to promise he would.
“It was one of those moments in my life that I’ll never forget,” Worthey said. “Similar to, ‘Where were you when the Twin Towers fell?’ It was a moment like that for me personally.”
This new contract fulfills that promise.
“She said to never give up the ship,” he said. “This is me never giving up the ship. It feels good to keep this promise to her.”
Looking Forward
Worthey said his main focus now is continuing to work on infrastructure projects such as Newberg’s wastewater plant and River Street improvements—without adding new debt, a major goal since he started. The city has not taken on any new debt in four years and has paid off at least one loan.
“It’s been a major focus on this council—reduction of debt,” he said. “There are things that may come up where we need to out of necessity, but there are ways to keep doing the work without adding more. I think we’ll be able to get it done.”
He also praised the city’s move toward digitized archiving and a paperless workflow—an initiative spearheaded by City Recorder Rachel Thomas—as well as consistency in staffing. Most city positions remain filled, which Worthey attributes to a strong workplace culture. That consistency reduces onboarding time and increases efficiency for residents.
“People are proud to work at the City of Newberg now,” he said. “That helps with recruitment and retention. This is a great place to work.”
The main criticism from staff and council, raised by staff during the Oct. 6 city council meeting, is Worthey’s lack of personal time—a concern he acknowledges as valid.
“I’ve failed to model good time management,” he said. “It’s unrealistic, and nobody should be working like this. I have three weeks of vacation per year in my contract, and I intend to use them.”
As Worthey looks ahead to the next decade, his focus remains on building stability—within City Hall, the community, and himself. For a city that’s seen more than its share of turnover, his promise to “never give up the ship” signals not just steady leadership, but a quiet commitment to keep Newberg moving forward.
Disclosure: Newsberg’s editor and publisher, Branden Andersen, knows City Manager Will Worthey personally outside of his reporting duties. This disclosure is made in the interest of transparency. The story was edited for bias externally by a third-party editor.
