Leadership and vision turn out to be two of the characteristics Suffolk citizens — or at least the 11 who showed up to an input session on Tuesday — desire in their new city manager.

Those were among the themes that emerged during the second of three sessions scheduled to hear from the community about what will likely be among this council’s most important decisions. The third session takes place tonight.

“There’s been a lot of concern over a number of issues in the city,” said Bill Owen, who was one of those giving input. “I was very disappointed nobody showed up at the first meeting, so I made sure I was here.”

Owen, a retired high school principal who ran for School Board in 2010, said he was out of town last Thursday, when the first input session at King’s Fork Recreation Center got no attendance from citizens.

Retired teacher Joyce Garretson said she thinks the lack of participation might be at least partially due to citizens not knowing the role of the city manager, as she didn’t before attending the meeting.

“I think that’s why a lot of people don’t participate, because it’s confusing,” she said. “I was looking for answers.”

The participants were placed into small groups with two city employees each. One acted as the facilitator — asking questions, keeping the discussion on track and making sure to involve each member of the group — and the other was recording the themes of the conversation.

After discussing their answers to the three questions posed by the city — about the highest priorities the new city manager should concentrate on and the traits and professional expertise he or she should possess — participants ranked them and then chose one of their members to report on their priorities to the full gathering.

Priorities that emerged included education, managed growth, green space, developing a small-business economy, neighborhood and downtown revitalization, cooperation with other localities and development of infrastructure.

Areas of professional expertise cited included management, business and finance backgrounds, experience as a city manager or assistant city manager, comprehensive planning for a growing city, managing a budget and experience balancing the needs of urban and rural areas.

Desired traits included approachability, transparency, the ability to accept input and team-build, to lead and delegate to staff rather than micromanage, to provide quality customer service, to respect the city’s heritage while moving forward and to scrutinize the long-term effects of decisions.

“We need somebody that’s thinking farther than the nose on their face,” Owen said after the meeting, summing up the visionary theme of the night.

Vice Mayor Leroy Bennett and Councilmen Mike Duman, Roger Fawcett and Lue Ward were in attendance.

Tonight’s session begins at 6 p.m. and will be held at the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center, 1030 University Blvd.