Commentary by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The six Wellington City Council members and the Mayor just got busy in what most likely will be the most important decision in their elected tenure — finding a new Wellington City Manager.

The whole idea of getting a new city manager for Wellington is a bit nerve wracking. I’ve come to observe as a news reporter it is arguably the most important job in Wellington. The city manager not only has to be a CEO of a $28 million a year corporation locally owned by stockholders known as city taxpayers, but he/she has to be an ambassador for Wellington, oversee several department heads, work closely with the county and schools, keep a budget, proceed with economic development, keep abreast of important issues down the pike and be held under a microscope of public scrutiny.

He/she is Wellington’s Barack Obama, or George W. Bush for those staunch Republicans out there.

I find myself amused with a couple of comments on this website. One suggested we should just hire within or merge two jobs into one like the city manager and the finance manger. Someone else suggested we should hire only a hometown boy, who understands Wellington. 

I’m thinking we should look under every rock, over every bridge, and even take trips to the no-longer-planet Pluto to find the best candidate for the job.

A good city manager is everything to Wellington.

A poor city manager is a disaster.

If the right person happens to be a hometown boy or someone within the current city of Wellington, I say fine. If it happens to be outside the perimeters of south-central Kansas or even Pluto, I’m fine with that too.

Just hire the right guy or gal, council. The town needs it.

The City of Wellington is not an easy gig. An abundance of tax revenue is always elusive. There is never enough money for the crumbling roads, a decaying sewer line underneath, or sustainable manpower and equipment to keep up with Mother Nature and her hubby Father Time. Sustainable economic growth that adds to the tax revenue base, rarely comes easy if not at all. While Oak Tree Inn is expanding its lodging because of an influx of railroad business, there is still a desperate need to land a motel/hotel for transient traffic. There is always a need to attract events and sustain those events we currently have so other people can come to the community to spend money.

There are the utility rates, and Wellington’s relationship with mammoth utility companies so we can get the best rates possible.

There is always that unanswerable question of what the oil industry will do next, whether indeed there are oil reservoirs underneath to tap into. And what position will the city of Wellington take if the oil boys come knocking saying there is?

And at the root of everything is water. Do we have enough of it to sustain ourselves and possible future growth? How do we balance business potential, with the need to keep our water supply replenished and safe?

Let’s not forget a city manager spends a lot of time trying to keep the electorate happy – especially the city council member who are responsible in your hiring.

City managers attend lots of meetings – and meetings not considered meetings.

Yep, the city manager job is a daunting job indeed.

On the other side, they are corporate CEOS, but paid less. We are basically asking someone to step in to run our $28 million a year operation, who may be paid much, much, MUCH more in the private sector.

The pool of good candidates for a city manager position, as it is for any community, is limited. It’s imperative Wellington has a competitive wage to at least compete with other towns of similar size when we do our job search.

Then there is the question of philosophy to consider. What type of city manager do we want? In my lifespan at the 67152 address, Wellington has had two city managers with two very different styles.

Carl Myers was a conservative by-the-book type in the 1990s and early 2000s, who held the finances in order and was a stickler for detail and conforming to the rules. While Myers was instrumental in getting such city projects completed as downtown renovation, a new aquatic center, etc.; he wasn’t always conducive for progressive business growth. And he was a bit thin skinned.

On the other hand, Gus Collins was definitely more business friendly and seemed not to care what you and I thought. I liked that he never carried a grudge when he didn’t like one of my articles. But his gun-slinging ways, occasionally raised more than a few eyebrows from time-to-time. Collins greatest gift was getting people to move forward on projects, building relationships throughout the community, being a city ambassador, and being well spoken. From an economic development standpoint he most certainly will be missed.

It will be interesting what transpires over the next six months with this search.

I personally like the current condition of the city of Wellington. The city has a firm five year capital improvement plan in place. The city departments appear to be stable and have good working relationships with one another and the public at large.

I have never seen a time where the various governmental entities worked more in harmony than at this moment. It was horrible when I first moved here.

Best of all, the city has not gotten itself caught up in too many side-tracking controversies as of late other than your usual complaining about taxes, bad roads, roundabout intersections, etc.

But periods of peace don’t last long. It takes just one scandal, one setback, one bad argument, one economic collapse to veer a community off course.

If I was a going to bet on what will be the most important issue of the next city manager’s tenure, I’m guessing it will be the survival of Sumner Regional Medical Center.

It will be up to the new city manager along with SRMC Administrator Leonard Hernandez, the hospital board, the city council and the community at large to figure out a way to make that happen.

That new city manager, whomever that may be, has a huge task in front of him/her.

Let’s hope the next city manager is the right city manager.

Good luck, Wellington City Council. It’s not like I’m putting any pressure on you.

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