In a surprise to many, including, seemingly, some city council members, Deputy City Manager W. Bowman "Bo" Ferguson was unanimously voted as Durham's next city manager at Monday night's city council meeting.
The motion to cast a vote for Ferguson's appointment was not listed on the meeting agenda. Mayor Leonardo Williams nearly forgot to bring up the motion himself, which came two and half hours into the meeting. The city council, legally obligated to have someone in the top administrative role on an interim or permanent basis, needed to vote on a successor for city manager Wanda Page before she officially retires on December 31. Ferguson will grab the baton on January 1. The contract is for three years with a starting salary of $297,000 a year.
"You have big shoes to fill," Williams said.
Although the vote technically passed unanimously, three city council members -- Chelsea Cook, Nate Baker, and DeDreana Freeman -- chose "no-voting" which counts as a yes vote in the meeting records but is a tactic often used as a way to show procedural disagreement. Immediately after the vote was taken, Cook asked the question most folks were thinking: why was there a motion to vote for the next city manager if it wasn't on the regular agenda?
Rehberg responded that it is not uncommon, and within the city council's purview, to take votes on items not listed on the public agenda. Typically, the city council publishes its meeting agenda four to seven days in advance.
"My preference would have been, 'Yes, we'd have gotten all this stuff ahead of time on the agenda published and ready well before the last meeting of the year,'" Williams told the INDY. "But we're also working with seven different schedules."
Williams and Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton said Middleton had made attempts to alert city council members of the upcoming vote by phone and text ahead of Monday's meeting. Freeman said she did receive outreach from Middleton, but still expressed concerns about the hiring process, saying it was "a little scurried along" and that she had hoped to include more candidates in the final rounds of interviews before making a decision.
"This is not a slight at Ferguson and his ability to do the job, it's just a matter of the way the process has gone," Freeman said.
Page announced her retirement in July two weeks after the city council approved the 2024-2025 fiscal year budget. "Now is the right moment to begin the transition of passing the torch to new leadership and allow fresh perspectives to shape the future of our beloved city," Page said.
The city council chose to forgo a national search following a number of closed session meetings in which the city council discussed the potential for hiring an internal candidate. The INDY has requested records from the city summarizing those closed session meetings.
Ferguson's resume includes service on the state's 911 Board following appointment by Gov. Roy Cooper and several board and committee leadership positions with the NC City/County Management Association, International City/County Management Association, Metropolitan Association of Local Government Assistants, and other groups.
Williams told the INDY that after talking with officials in peer cities through organizations like the League of Municipalities and the National League of Cities about a national candidate search, he was surprised by how many folks sang Ferguson's praises and encouraged the city council to hire from within.
"All of them said, 'You know you have Bo Ferguson, right?' That's pretty impressive that these separate entities that don't know I'm talking to each of them are saying the same name," Williams says. "That convinced me that we actually have a good person."
In appointing Ferguson, the city follows in the county's footsteps by promoting a longtime deputy manager to the top position. In November, the county commissioners promoted interim county manager Claudia Hager to the position permanently after the mysterious dismissal of former county manager Kimberly Sowell following six weeks of leave.
Ferguson may be a new voice at the top of the org chart, but his appointment brings institutional continuity. Ferguson joined the city staff as a deputy city manager in 2013. Before that, he served as city manager in Hendersonville, North Carolina from 2008 to 2013.
"Since 2013, I have enjoyed being a part of this amazing community, where I've worked, lived, and raised my family," Ferguson said in a statement. "To have the opportunity to serve as city manager in the city that I'm so deeply committed to, is a dream come true for me."
Williams says that, although Ferguson worked under Page, his tenure will not be a redux. He says the new county manager will bring fresh ideas and be a more public-facing figure after questioning Ferguson during interviews. He notes that Page was "a steady hand through a very bumpy last three years.
"She is exactly what we needed. Someone that could also stabilize us financially," William says. "We're very strong. So now, our next focus is, how do we evolve into the next phase of the city with major projects and strategic partnerships while also keeping us safe? That's his forte."
Williams adds that, with a new Durham Public Schools board chair, a new DPS superintendent, a new county manager, and new county board of commissioners vice chair, Durham governing bodies have seen a lot of change recently.
"I really respected the fact that [the city] had an opportunity to be stable," Williams says. "I believe, objectively, that the city right now is the stability of Durham and all of Durham County. We're the strongest financially. We are the most efficiently run board now, [though] others may believe differently."
At Monday's meeting, councilor Javiera Caballero said that she has worked on job rubrics in previous jobs that often try to "simulate" the expectations of the position as a way to evaluate a candidate's qualifications. She shared a story about Ferguson's response to a deadly gas explosion in 2019 -- he was filling in for former city manager Tom Bonfield who was on vacation -- to illustrate his real-world experience.
"I don't need a simulation because I saw somebody who knows exactly what to do on a very scary day when your community is reeling, when you have chaos," Caballero said. "I am very eager and excited to work with our next city manager."
Williams said that he looks forward to properly celebrating Ferguson when he officially takes office in the new year, but that Monday was "Wanda's night."
The city council honored Page at the start of Monday's meeting for her decades of service to the city of Durham. Surrounded by her family and members of the city council, she was awarded a key to the city, one of Durham's highest honors.
"I don't know what to say except thank you," Page said.
Council members and other city staff shared in their appreciation for Page, whose last official meeting will take place at Thursday's work session.
Middleton said Page had one of the kinds of jobs "everyone thinks they can do until they have it" and that Page brought dignity and grace to the role.
"Dr. King said that 'the ultimate measure of a [person] is not where they stand in times of comfort and convenience but rather in times of challenge and controversy,' and I have watched you in challenge and controversy bring ... a character and a truthfulness, even when folks didn't want to hear it, to those situations, and I thank you."
Williams asked Page, as he does at every meeting, if the city manager had any priority items for the city council. She took the opportunity to thank her family and colleagues for the last time from the dais inside city hall.
"To my dedicated city of Durham employees, all 2,500-plus of you, it has been a privilege to work alongside you, whether we've shared many years together, or just a few days, you all mean the world to me," Page said.
"I see you, and remember, each day, that the City of Durham government and this great community is even greater because of you. Your commitment and passion for our community has made every challenge we've faced worthwhile, and every victory a little sweeter."