Emporians will get a chance to meet the final two city manager candidates at a public forum Tuesday night.
The forum will start at 6 p.m. in the Little Theater of White Auditorium. Matt Zimmerman of Prospect Heights, Ill. and Ron Massey of Corpus Christi, Texas will speak to the public, answer questions and be available for a short social time afterward.
Emporia city commissioners had originally intended to start at 7 p.m., when the polls for the city’s primary election closed. The time was shifted up an hour to accommodate voters or candidates who wanted to watch the results come in.
“The part of our citizens who are interested in meeting the candidates would be the ones that would be darn sure to have already voted,” Commissioner Tom Myers said.
Myers also asked that there be a way of gathering public comment afterward.
“What are you going to do with it?” Commissioner Ray Toso asked.
“I suppose we should take a look at it,” Myers answered. “I don’t want to drag it out but I don’t think there’s that big a hurry. I’d like the chance to review all the comments after the forum.”
Mayor Jim Kessler agreed.
“I don’t think we should take a vote or hand out a ballot to the public,” Kessler said. “But another set of eyes looking at things, they might notice something.”
The commission agreed to provide paper at the forum for citizens who wanted to turn in written comments immediately afterward.
Toso emphasized that the comments would be strictly advisory.
“The public needs to understand that their input is appreciated,” Toso said. “But they also need to understand that there’s more to it than a social and ‘I like this guy.’”
Commissioners will privately interview one of the two candidates at 1 p.m. Tuesday and the other at 3 p.m. The order of the interviews has not been set. Both closed-door interviews will take place in city conference room No. 2, near the water department.
Following the interviews Tuesday, the commission will set a time on Wednesday morning to meet, discuss the candidates and possibly make a decision and an offer.
“I’m still concerned about follow-up time,” Commissioner Bobbie Agler said. “We need to make sure we’ve got all the information and have had time to develop it. ... What if it takes longer than we’d planned to do it?”
“I assume we would take the time,” Kessler said. Myers agreed.
“It’s a lot more important to do it good than it is to do it fast,” Myers said.