Post last updated at 7:51 a.m. Tuesday, June 9; more photos added at 8:30 a.m.:
Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday selected Majed Al-Ghafry to serve as the next city manager following contract negotiations led by city staff.
Mayor Brad Finkeldei said Al-Ghafry’s background and experience fit the bill for Lawrence’s city manager position.
“Beyond his education, his experiences in public works, economic development and management of large and complex projects in multiple cities will serve Lawrence well in the coming years as we move into what I call the execution phase of our planned growth,” Finkeldei said.
Vice Mayor Mike Courtney echoed Finkeldei’s sentiments.
“His number one goal for the first year is to help stabilize our long-term finances, followed by improved service delivery, sustainable affordable housing initiatives, new public-private partnerships,” Courtney said.
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Al-Ghafry will be coming from DeSoto, Texas, where he’s served as the city manager since 2024. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city had a population of 56,700 in July 2025. According to the census, 68% of the population is Black, 19% is Hispanic or Latino and 13.5% is white.
DeSoto is a suburb to the southwest of Dallas, Texas, where Al-Ghafry spent recent years of his career in positions such as assistant city manager-infrastructure and then assistant city manager/chief economic development officer.
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Previously, he was the assistant city manager in El Cajon, California, from 2013 to 2017; director of public works in San Antonio, Texas, from 2008 to 2013; director of public works in Las Vegas, Nevada, from 2007 to 2008; and public works director/city engineer in Lemon Grove, California, from 2004 to 2007.
He has a background in engineering and a Master of Public Administration degree.
Al-Ghafry joined the commission via Zoom Tuesday and said he appreciated getting to know community members during his interview.
“It was a great grilling session,” he said, joking about the meet-and-greet on May 20.
“I knew then that I wanted to be a member of this community,” he continued.
The search process began in January, and in May, the city announced five finalists, one of whom later withdrew from consideration. The community meet-and-greet gave people a chance to meet the remaining four — Joe Fivas, Joseph (Joe) Lessard, Al-Ghafry and Michael Kovacs — in a speed-dating-style event.
Doug Thomas is the the executive vice president of executive recruitment/leadership development with Strategic Government Resources, a recruitment firm that the city contracted for a not-to-exceed price of $28,419 to help guide the search.
Thomas said that in any search process, he wants to be transparent with candidates about a municipality and its growth areas. He said SGR usually identifies four or five community challenges.
“Lawrence — of the close to 300 searches I’ve done with SGR — Lawrence had a full page,” he said. “You have a lot of things at play here, and you have a very dynamic community.”
Thomas said SGR sourced 60 applicants from 23 states, which he thought was a reasonable number for how unique Lawrence is and how many people have experiences with cities this size. From there, commissioners selected 15 semifinalists they felt were fit for the job.
After those candidates filled out extensive questionnaires and submitted prerecorded statements addressing items such as their interest in the position and their management styles, commissioners whittled it down to five finalists.
Courtney Shipley, former Lawrence commissioner and mayor, told Al-Ghafry at the May meet-and-greet that the city has a council form of government without a strong mayor. She asked how Al-Ghafry would guarantee that commissioners or the mayor wouldn’t “unduly influence you or staff.”
Al-Ghafry said there wouldn’t be a “friendship deal.” Rather, he would cater to all commissioners and the full community by being objective and data-driven.
“It has to be very … transparent, it has to be very deliberate,” he said. “And the goal is to be also consistent. So it’s really important to do so when everything is out there in open forum.”
Another community member questioned how Al-Ghafry would make sure the average citizen has access to city staff and governance.
He said he wants to ensure the government is open to all groups, not just those with high civic engagement.
“What I’ve done in other cities is I go to the community instead of the community come into city hall,” he said. “It’s very important to go to the different neighborhoods, to go to the different areas, and hear everyone.”
When a community member pressed him, asking if that was just talk, he said “No, and if you look at my background, you know I’m not talking.”
Al-Ghafry was the subject of some public concern because he helped purchase a building for the city of Dallas that government officials later walked back on, saying that it was not properly assessed before the $21 million purchase.
Al-Ghafry told community members that he was scapegoated in the incident, which flared after he had already left the city.
He said that, as a structural engineer, he examined the entire building personally and identified limited issues. It had a certificate of occupancy and 30 tenants already, according to Al-Ghafry, and the city council and city manager gave him the green light to authorize the purchase in a closed session.
The building originally was meant to house permitting departments and inspectors. He told attendees that the city has gone back to considering how to move employees into the building since he left.
“I tell you what triggered all of that is the inspectors that we’ve asked to come into that building, consolidate from their different field offices, because they did not like that,” he said.
He told attendees his portfolio fits Lawrence’s needs, with a background in housing, economic development, diverse infrastructure, governance and finance.
The advertised salary for the city manager position was $229,153 – $338,769, “depending on experience and qualifications,” according to a recruitment document created by SGR.
Al-Ghafry will make an annual base salary of $330,491, plus an annual automobile allowance of $7,800, totaling $338,291.
Additionally, the city manager will have 160 hours — four weeks — of vacation leave available immediately, as well as 48 hours, or six days, of sick leave.
The agreement has a severance clause if the city manager is fired or resigns in the face of termination. The payment equals “12 months of the annual base salary, 12 months of the deferred compensation contribution, and 12 months of the COBRA payment for the City Manager’s elected healthcare coverage,” according to the executive summary in the meeting agenda.
The contract also includes a one-time reimbursement of up to $50,000 for relocation, as well as other benefits, such as retirement. Read the full contract here.
Finkeldei, Courtney, and Commissioners Mike Dever, Kristine Polian and Amber Sellers voted unanimously to approve the contract during a brief special meeting Tuesday morning.
Finkeldei said Al-Ghafry will start in the position within 60 days, although Al-Ghafry said he hopes to hit the ground running sooner.
Former City Manager Craig Owens announced in November that he would be leaving his position in May. He held the position for almost seven years after starting in the role on July 1, 2019. Casey Toomay has served as acting city manager in the interim.
A requirement listed in the job description was to relocate to Lawrence within six months of hire.
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Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at [email protected].
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Nathan Kramer (he/him), a multimedia student journalist for The Lawrence Times since August 2024, is a recent graduate of Free State High School. He also served as a news photo editor for Free State’s student publication, where he worked as a videographer, photographer and motion designer. See more of his work for the Times here.
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