Here’s the latest on Wichita’s plan to replace its city manager

The city of Wichita will seek help from a consultant to find its next city manager in a nationwide search.

Longtime City Manager Robert Layton announced his retirement earlier this month, sparking conversations on whether the mayor should have a stronger role in the city’s day-to-day operations. Even so, the council is moving ahead with a search for another manager.

The city council will vote on issuing a request for proposals from search consultant firms at next week’s meeting.

Consultants help develop job descriptions, advertise the job opening, and create and facilitate public engagement opportunities.

“It’s been 16 years since the city of Wichita has done this,” city HR Director Jason Hood told the council. “So an HR department will probably do this every six to 10 years. Whereas a consultant, that’s all they do. So they’re ready to go.”

The firms also often come with guarantees to help lead another search if the person hired during its search leaves the following year, which happened in the city in 2008.

“The council had a false start,” Layton said at a council meeting last week. “A individual was hired, and then at the last minute, decided not to accept the position, to come to the community, and so the same search firm started the process over.”

It’s not uncommon for a city of Wichita’s size to hire a consultant to find a city manager or certain department heads.

The city spent about $58,000 in its search for a police chief in 2022. That search included several public engagement opportunities where residents were able to help develop the chief’s job description and meet several finalists.

Searching for a new city manager through a consultant will likely cost the city about or more than $75,000, according to preliminary estimates. That will come out of the city manager’s office budget.

The proposal to find a consultant will remain open for 30 days, with the council voting to approve the consultant this summer after a selection from the city’s purchasing department.

The search for and hiring a city manager could go into later this year or early next while three council seats are up for election, all currently held by Democrats.

“It can go anywhere from five to 10 months,” Hood said. “It kind of depends on how quickly council acts, how quickly you guys decide what the job description is going to be. So it just depends on how fast you want the process to move.”

Council/manager government

During the past few weeks of discussion on the city manager search during city council meetings, there’s been little follow up on statements made by some council members about considering whether the mayor should have a stronger role in city operations.

Currently, the city manager prepares the budget, chooses department heads and manages the daily operations of the city government.

The council appears divided on the idea of having a strong mayor do those things.

“It’s important to note that [council/manager government] gained momentum in the early 20th century to fight against widespread corruption and essentially create more effective management in local government,” council member Brandon Johnson said in a Facebook post earlier this month.

Mayor Lily Wu has previously voiced frustration with the city’s “weak mayor” form of government where the mayor often absorbs public criticism but, beyond running council meetings and signing documents, has no special power. Her vote counts the same as each of the six council members elected by district.

“We need to have that discussion whether we want a different type of government, whether we want to see a different type of leadership,” she said at a recent weekly news briefing.

Voters would have the final say on any such change in government.

This story was originally published April 15, 2025 at 12:54 PM.