I was mildly amused by a fact in the latest story in the ongoing city manager search saga. In fact, it was the last line in the story.
Slavin was selected from 14 people or companies that submitted proposals for a national search. Council members Jeff Longwell, Feary and Schlapp interviewed three of them before picking Slavin.
So let me get this straight: The city interviews three consultants to find someone to replace the only guy it interviewed for the manager’s job the first time around. You know, the guy who then backed out of the job at the last minute.
Like I said, amusing.
3 Comments
That’s pretty funny.
Even though City of Wichita has spent a bundle of dollars for temporary city managers, Wichita hasn’t had an effective city manager since Chis Cherches quit back in about 2003.
After Cherches left, I believe George Kolb arrived from somewhere in southeast United States. Mr. Kolb had some good points but didn’t relate well to people so he was soon history.
Kolb was followed by “acting” city manager, Ed Flentje, a WSU professor, who more or less temporarily filled the city manager’s seat at city council meetings.
Then came the short and aborted attempt to bring former Sunrise, Florida, city manager Pat Salerno from Florida to Wichita. Word on the street was that while visiting Wichita to look for a house, Pat recognized the hopelessness of doing anything constructive with Downtown Wichita due to the white elephant downtown arena and its unbelievable lack of parking and no tenant. So Salerno said NO TO WICHITA and let the chips fall.
Then the city council looked at the city’s stable of potential acting city managers and chose Scott Moore, an assistant city manager with excellent people skills if minimal experience in managing larger cities.
Again word on the street is most people feel the city council should settle back and give Scott Moore a chance to show his skills for at least a year. This would give time for the next April city elections to take place with a probable turn-over in city councilmen.
But, again, it appears the same city council people who messed up the Pat Salerno search are again out hiring another expensive search firm to come up with more names of city manager prospects.
So look for more big tax expenditures for travel and dinners by council people with little or no progress.
I agree – give Wichitan Moore a chance. I’m sure he can also tap Ed Flentje for advice and connections whenever he needs them. Perhaps a home-grown Wichitan will make a better choice than a hired gun from outside.