On Monday, Matt Zimmerman accepted the job as Emporia’s new city manager. City commissioners spent five hours over three days deciding between the two finalists.
If you went to the city manager community forums or watched the video of the event on emporiagazette.com, what likely stood out was how different the candidates appeared to be.
One was younger, the other older. One was high-energy and the other was more reserved and methodical.
The commission went with the youth and energy and hopefully those traits will help propel our community forward.
What will be interesting is to see Zimmerman’s leadership style. Will he be like Virgil Basgall, who was a master at backroom politics, or Steve Commons, who was diplomatic at finding resolutions, or somewhere in between?
Interim City Manager Mark McAnarney has done a good job of keeping the city running. However, under his leadership many projects and issues were put on hold for the new city manager to resolve. Zimmerman will have a lengthy task digging out from the backlog as well as getting aquainted with the city staff and departments.
Zimmerman’s primary job will be to keep the city running effectively and efficiently. But for our community to experience growth, he will also need to be a leader in the community who can bring differing parties together for our common good.
Any problems people may have had with the former city manager should not be carried over to Zimmerman. He deserves a fresh start.
Matt Zimmerman starts his new job on Monday, April 16, if his city council agrees, but there is no reason why our community shouldn’t expect him to start doing his homework now.
Welcome to our community.