Post last updated at 1:16 p.m. Friday, May 15:
Five finalists for the Lawrence city manager position will be in town to meet with community members next week.
The meet-and-greet event is set for 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 20 at the Carnegie Building, 200 W. Ninth St.
“We’ll have the the candidates spread out across the room, and folks can come meet, greet them, and learn a little bit about them,” Mayor Brad Finkeldei said during the Lawrence City Commission’s Tuesday meeting.
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The city commission in January approved a contract with Strategic Government Resources, a Texas-based recruitment firm, for a not-to-exceed price of $28,419 to conduct the national city manager search.
“Using its proprietary recruitment and vetting process, SGR assembled an exceptionally strong candidate pool of 60 municipal government professionals representing 23 states,” the city announced in a news release Friday.
The city announced the names of the five finalists Friday afternoon: David Vela, Joe Fivas, Joseph (Joe) Lessard, Majed Al-Ghafry and Michael Kovacs.
All but two are currently city managers in Texas cities; Fivas is city manager in Cleveland, Tennessee, and Lessard is an independent consultant.
More information about each candidate is available in a news release from the city at this link.
The advertised salary for the position was $229,153 – $338,769, “depending on experience and qualifications,” according to SGR’s job listing.
“I am extremely pleased with how the search has progressed and with the quality of the candidates that have applied for the City Manager position,” Finkeldei said in the Friday news release. “The recruitment has generated an exceptional number of quality candidates, and the City Commission looks forward to learning more about our five finalists when they are in town for their interviews.
Commissioners will interview candidates throughout the day Thursday, May 21 at City Hall, and “we’ll probably deliberate some that night,” Finkeldei said Tuesday.
Commissioners will meet again at 8 a.m. Friday, May 22, to take a vote on the city manager, he said.
“It’s possible we’ll need to go back into executive session at that time, maybe, for more discussion, and some time shortly after that, but the hope would be to make an official vote to enter into negotiations on that Friday morning,” Finkeldei said.
Former City Manager Craig Owens announced in November that he would be leaving his position in May. He held the position for about six and a half years after starting in the role on July 1, 2019.
Casey Toomay is serving as acting city manager in the interim.
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