Wichita continues with plans to hire city manager after finalist withdraws

Discussions will continue Tuesday about the city of Wichita’s remaining two finalists for city manager after Assistant City Manager Donte Martin withdrew his candidacy late Friday.

The City Council could make a decision on who to hire that same day.

The remaining candidates are Mark Freitag, a 59-year-old former city manager for a Denver suburb and Janesville, Wisconsin, and Dennis Marstall, a 56-year-old county administrator for a suburb of Charlotte.

The City Council met with the city manager search committee Monday morning in a closed session, where no legal binding action was taken, according to Wichita Mayor Lily Wu.

Martin was the only finalist who was an internal candidate.

He did not cite a reason for withdrawing his candidacy in a letter sent to search consultants, but said he wanted to continue in his current role.

Longtime City Manager Bob Layton is retiring at the end of the year. The city said it wants to hire someone to fill the role before then.

Last week, the finalists met with members of the search committee and the council.

The candidates also sat for a public forum with city residents.

The city has spent at least $30,000 so far on the search for its new city manager. It has also paid travel expenses for the candidates, but has yet to disclose how much it spent on that portion.

An earlier agenda report said the city was budgeting to spend $2,500 on each candidate to travel to the city for interviews.

A draft agenda report shows the council will vote on an employment agreement for the new city manager at its Dec. 2 meeting.

This story was originally published November 24, 2025 at 10:49 AM.