Wichita homing in on manager

To their credit, Mayor Carl Brewer and the Wichita City Council are being both open and deliberate in their crucial choice of a new city manager. On Saturday they narrowed the slate from five strong finalists to three: Sedgwick County Manager William Buchanan; Urbandale, Iowa, City Manager Robert Layton; and former Corpus Christi, Texas, City Manager Skip Noe. In an editorial, the Topeka Capital-Journal praised the openness and public involvement being used in Wichita’s city-manager search process, suggesting that Topeka could learn from it should its city manager, Norton Bonaparte, land the Wichita job (which he didn’t).

4 Comments

  1. JWink
    Posted November 9, 2008 at 6:16 am | Permalink

    Actually, the answer is none of the above at the present time. Current acting Wichita city manager, Scott Moore, an excellent communicator, should be continued in his present position until after the April city council elections. Conceivably, a new city manager might not receive the accolades of a newly reorganized city council.

    Of course, William Buchanan would be the WORST CHOICE OF ALL. He is a de facto member of Wichita’s “good old boy network” of contractors and architects and fellow travelers who shove their opinions on Sedgwick Countians and Wichitans whenever they can get away with it. Buchanan needs to move on to another state … how about Texas in the game of manager musical chairs.

    Another alternative would be to search Kansas for a city manager or business man who knows the southern Kansas and Wichita culture … and can tell the difference between the City Hall and County Courthouse when he starts the job.

  2. XXX
    Posted November 9, 2008 at 6:29 am | Permalink

    I can hardly wait to see how this turns out. I’m glad I don’t live in Wichita anymore.

    The Wichita City Council is a joke, and you just keep voting the same bad actors back in.

  3. LonnythePlumber
    Posted November 9, 2008 at 10:39 am | Permalink

    More Moore is best.

  4. bth
    Posted November 9, 2008 at 12:47 pm | Permalink

    Agreed – Moore would be a great choice and Buchanan simply more of the GOBN.