Cross your fingers that the Wichita city manager search is homing in on the right man or woman for the job this time, after last summer’s Pat Salerno debacle. Until the city releases the names, perhaps of six finalists this afternoon, and finally opens the doors to the public and media for forums next week, all citizens have to go on are assurances from those few Wichitans involved in the process. “I’m impressed,” said Mayor Carl Brewer. “We have some very good ones.” Of course, Brewer and other council members also were impressed with Salerno (in photo), who was the only candidate to be interviewed last spring, who accepted the $215,000-a-year job, and then changed his mind a week before he was supposed to start, declaring, “I just don’t feel right.” Eleven months after City Manager George Kolb’s forced resignation, the City Council must ensure that the hiring of his successor feels right not only for the candidate but for Wichita. If, as The Eagle reported Thursday, Sedgwick County Manager William Buchanan is among the finalists, he would be a strong contender.
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