The Emporia City Commission has not yet decided on a city manager.
Commissioners spent more than two hours in closed session this morning discussing Matt Zimmerman and Ron Massey, the two candidates for the position. But when the doors finally reopened, commissioners said only that they needed more time to talk. The discussions will continue at 8 a.m. Thursday in the city conference room.
Mayor Jim Kessler said the commission was not yet ready to make an offer to either candidate.
“We still have further questions to ask and maybe further consultations with our consultant,” Kessler said.
Kessler said that both candidates fit the city’s profile very closely, making the decision more difficult.
“Both of them have strong management philosophies, human relations skills ... and financial management skills,” Kessler said. “That’s what makes the decision hard. ... It would have been a lot easier if one of them was really bad, but both have qualities that make it a tough decision.”
Zimmerman is the city administrator for Prospect Heights, Ill., and Massey is an assistant city manager at Corpus Christi, Texas.
On Tuesday night, about 50 people came to the Little Theater to meet Zimmerman and Massey. Both men were grateful to be the two remaining candidates out of 47 who initially applied for the job.
“It’s been a very grueling process from my perspective,” Massey chuckled. “I assure you ... this commission is taking this job very seriously.”
Zimmerman said he spent some time walking the downtown with his wife, Valerie. He was impressed, not just with the state of the downtown but with its attitude as well.
“There’s still support for the downtown as well as new growth elsewhere,” Zimmerman said. “A lot of times in government, different areas are often perceived to be in competition with each other. What I saw in Emporia was everyone working together for the betterment of the community.”
Both candidates have the chance of ending up closer to grandchildren — Ron and Rose Massey’s are in Oklahoma while the Zimmermans’ are in Sedgwick.
“Isn’t it amazing, the power grandkids have?” Mayor Jim Kessler said with a broad grin.
One audience member asked the two men about their support of law enforcement and how they would make sure it was effectively funded. Massey admitted that that was a challenge.
“In Corpus Christi, Texas, our property tax is not sufficient to support the proper cost of funding public safety services to the community,” Massey said. “And there are still discussions about whether we have enough patrolmen on the street. That’s a big challenge in our city today.”
One thing the city can do, he said, is use technology to help with routine tasks so that police officers can hit the streets.
“We have got to not just add additional employees,” he said. ‘We want to be sure the employees we have are used in the most effective way.”
Zimmerman could sympathize. Prospect Heights has only had a police department since 1990, but funding has been a problem. In particular, the city hadn’t been able to fund the police pension plan to state-required levels and voters repeatedly turned down tax increases.
“In city government, there is only so much money,” Zimmerman said.
The result was that Prospect Heights laid off nine employees and closed city hall two days a week in order to cover police costs. In addition, the city’s police department is closed to the public on weekends and after 4:30 p.m. except for emergency calls.
“I said ‘You can’t continue to deficit spend and constantly underfund the police department,’” Zimmerman said. “So we cut other services. Now we’re back on track with funding the police pensions and the police department. They’re getting the equipment they need.”
Former county commissioner Vern McKinzie asked the candidates about their experience with city-county cooperation. Zimmerman said he’d had a lot, given that Illinois has about 6,700 local units of government. Joining groups such as the Rotary Club helps, he said, since it let him meet other leaders in a social setting. But the key, he said, is to offer a win-win situation rather than make demands.
“Because we’re all working under the same constraints, I have to be able to call up another executive director and say ‘We have this issue — how can we work together?’” Zimmerman said. “The built in win-win situation is what’s going to get it done.”
Massey said he faced a similar situation to Emporia in that the city of Corpus Christi has about 90 percent of the county’s population. One key, he said, is to look for areas where the two governments can effectively join forces, such as 911 service.
“Try to identify where those are applicable, where you can seek out that mutual solution,” Massey said.
“A lot of it is personality,” he added. “You do have to work through personalities at times.”
More than one person asked about their experience with Hispanic populations. Zimmerman said that Prospect Heights is about 22 percent Hispanic, similar to Emporia; Massey said that Corpus Christi is about 60 percent Hispanic.
Phil Dillon, a city commission candidate, asked how more Hispanics could be encouraged to go to college or vote in elections.
Massey said that the effort needed to start with the schools, making sure that all children understood the importance of political participation.
“Somehow, we lost that emphasis,” he said.
As for education, he added, the real need may be for technical education.
“In Corpus Christi, we have refineries, a lot of businesses,” Massey said. “Overwhelmingly, the problem our employers have is finding a qualified workforce. They’re not looking for college graduates. They’re looking for welders and others in the trades business.”
Zimmerman agreed that it was a difficult situation. Most immigrant families, he said, were hard-working people that often lacked the time to take part in the process or focus on longer-term goals.
“I think you need to set up a situation where you’re not just waiting around for the families to go to you,” he said. “You need to get out to them. And you need to go out to them in their language. You need bilingual staff, especially in the police department.”
Jesse Solis, another candidate, asked if either of them had dealt with Hispanics on a peer level and not just as people to be helped. Zimmerman said he hadn’t. Massey said his last city manager had been Hispanic, along with three of his department heads.
Still another candidate, Jeff Longbine, asked the men to define their leadership and management style. Both described management as the means of keeping a city running smoothly and said they preferred to involve the relevant city staff in decisions as much as possible. Leadership they saw as something more inspirational.
“If you have a good hard-working staff, you need to show them you know what you’re doing, that you’re committed to getting the work done and that you’ll work the long hours, too,” Zimmerman said. “You need to show them you’re just as much there as they are.”
“You have to be willing to roll up your sleeves, get down in the trenches with the people working to get the job done, and work with them to get the job done,” Massey agreed. “It’s not something that can be bottled and sold. It’s a skill you develop.”
Written comments on the candidates were collected afterward.