District 3 council candidates agree it’s time to consider firing city manager Layton
Candidates for the District 3 seat on the Wichita City Council agreed Friday that the time has come to consider terminating City Manager Robert Layton.
At a debate sponsored by the Republican Wichita Pachyderm Club, appointed incumbent council member Jared Cerullo and challenger Mike Hoheisel went on record saying they would endeavor to replace the city manager.
Layton’s continued tenure has also been at issue in another contested council race, District 6, where Maggie Ballard, who is challenging incumbent council member Cindy Claycomb, has said she wants to replace the manager.
In District 1, Council member Brandon Johnson said he wants to keep Layton, while challenger Myron Ackerman declined to state a position, characterizing it as an issue that should “remain private.”
Layton declined to comment.
Cerullo has been a council member since March, when he was appointed by the council to replace former member James Clendenin, who resigned amid a scandal over the production and cover-up of a smear campaign targeting Mayor Brandon Whipple and then-county Republican Party Chairman Dalton Glasscock.
Cerullo said he doesn’t question Layton’s ability, but a change could do the city good.
“Bob Layton is a very competent city manager,” and has to “make hard and tough decisions that not everyone is going to agree with,” Cerullo said.
But, he said he’s heard from other council members and members of his district advisory board who think it’s time for someone new in the office.
“The average tenure of a city manager for a city our size is six to seven years,” Cerullo said. “Bob Layton has been here 12. It might be time for a fresh idea. It might be time for a fresh name.”
The members of the Pachyderm Club applauded that statement.
Hoheisel’s answer was similar, though he added that he thinks there also needs to be a restructuring of City Hall to reduce managerial power.
“I try to keep an open mind [on Layton],” Hoheisel said. “But when I listen to the people as to what they want, there’s not a lot of support for Bob Layton to stick around.
“This is not a job I envy him doing and I’m not going to make any personal characterizations about it, but I do know, as Jared said, he’s been city (manager) for 12 years. We’ve had 12 years of deferred maintenance on Century II,” the city-owned convention and performing arts center.
The Riverfront Legacy Master Plan, a proposal by leading business interests and partially funded with city and county money, proposes demolishing Century II and replacing it with $1.5 billion of new public and private development. At one time Layton floated a plan to save and renovate Century II, but more recently has joined a chorus of community members who argue that it cannot be brought up to the standards needed for the city’s future convention and performing arts needs.
Hoheisel said in addition to considering whether Layton should go, Wichita also needs to reconsider its form of government. Under the current council/manager arrangement, the elected council hires the manager to serve as chief executive and operate all city departments within broader policy guidelines set by the council.
“I think the city manager position itself, that’s an awful lot of power to give an unelected official, an awful lot of power,” Hoheisel said. “We need to figure out not only do we want a new city manager, but also what do we expect from the office.
“How do we want to reorganize this so that way, they are held accountable to the people. Right now, the city manager is held accountable to four people in the entire city of Wichita. He has to keep four people on the City Council happy and that’s it . . . We need to have a conversation that goes a lot deeper than just Bob.”
The competing model used in many large cities is a “council/mayor” form of government, where the council primarily serves as a legislative body and an elected mayor acts as the city’s chief executive.
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 3:18 PM.
