Q&A: Meet Eagan's New City Administrator, Dave Osberg

Eagan City Administrator Dave Osberg started his tenure with the city on Monday, March 22. Osberg, who was the former city administrator in Hastings, worked as an intern under former Eagan City Administrator Tom Hedges, who retired earlier this year.

Patch sat down with Osberg on Wednesday to learn more about his background, strengths and vision. This interview has been edited for length.

Eagan Patch: What about the idea of being a city administrator first attracted you? 

Eagan City Administrator Dave Osberg: I had a notion about wanting to be involved in government and politics, but I knew I didn’t have the interest in running for office, being elected or being a politician.

The more you get to know about being in city management and administration, you realize that you are part of the politics, but you’re not involved in it. You don’t want to create politics, because they will come to you on a daily or weekly basis. Folks in my business, if they create it, they’re likely not going to last all that long in the business. I think that's one of the traits that many would suggest ... I have a knack for: Being familiar with it and being aware of it without being involved in it or creating it.

Patch: You left a 24-year career in Hastings, what was it about the city of Eagan—about this job—that caught your eye?

Osberg: Obviously, having worked in Dakota County for those 24 years, you hear a lot about the cities: The good, the bad and the indifferent in all of our peer cities in Dakota County. I knew this was a well-run organization. I knew that there was a lot going on. I knew that there was a great cross-section of levels of great staff.

My wife, she said 'Dave, you’d be disappointed if you didn’t apply,' and I said, 'You know what, Laurie, you’re right.' Because I was hemming and hawing about whether or not I wanted to do it. I had a great situation in Hastings; great city, great staff and great council. But I thought: 'If I don’t, I’m going to be disappointed.'

Patch: Former City Administrator Tom Hedges left a pretty long shadow in Eagan, but everybody has their unique management style and different things they bring to the table. When you think about your own approach to city management, what’s your leadership style?

Osberg: I believe that many would say I’m very approachable and perhaps an easy person to talk with. People can share a story, share a problem or problem-solve with me. Much like I believe Tom was and this organization is, I will work together and solve problems, and seek guidance and advice from the management team.

But you have to be prepared to make a decision. At the end of the day, more times than not, the administrator will have to be the one to make that decision. I encourage collaboration. I encourage customer service. One of the things I tried to offer many times in my job in Hastings was to get back to people, call them back, email them back. Don’t let things fester.

Patch: You’ve only been here for eight days, but you’ve had a couple of weeks to ge to know the city before that. I’m curious to know if there are any areas of improvement, or immediate goals that you have as the new city administrator?

Osberg: I don’t know yet. I’ve come into this since I started a week and a half ago with the goal of listening a lot. My schedule is filled. I’ve got six to eight citizens that I have visited with already. I’ve probably got another list of 10-12 that I still want to get a hold of. Plus visiting with the city council, tours or visits with the management team.

This has been a great, well-run organization for many years, so what I’m trying to do is make mental and written notes of what I’m hearing, some areas where people might be looking for some tweaks or small changes. I’m not getting the sense by any means that theres’s a need for wholesale changes; you don’t have a well-run organization like this with some expectation that some major renovation to the culture or structure is needed.

We’ll be working with the council in late April for a goal-setting session, so that will be very helpful to hear from the council and have some dialogue with the council.

Patch: I wanted to play off the mayor’s state of the city address. Correct me if you disagree, but I think the main takeaway was that Eagan has to build a talent economy, it has to position itself to attract this information technology industry. What do you think of the mayor's vision, and how do we get there?

Osberg: How do we get there has yet to be determined. Mike shared with me his vision for the speech. I think he’s spot on. I’ll use a personal example for a minute: When he said in his speech that younger people will find a place to live first, and then they’ll find a job, well, my older son Mike, who just turned 26, he and his wife, they … essentially left here in October of 2011 and moved to Seattle. They didn’t have jobs … all they had was names of contacts, friends and relatives in the Seattle area. They each now have jobs.

I do think we have to engage a bit, as the mayor suggests, as to what are some things that continue to make Eagan an attractive place to live and work. I’ll be looking forward to having the conversation with the council, and I can also imagine looking forward to having that conversation with the community, and maybe a cross section of young people.