Springfield City Manager Finalists

What are their respective hometown papers saying about their job prospect in Springfield?

I thought it would be interesting to see what the City Manager finalists' hometown papers were writing about them concerning their finalist positions for Springfield City Manager and thought other people might be interested too.

Of course, since Greg Burris is local, I figured everyone has read the local print already.

Here's a link to Edmond, Oklahoma's "The Edmond Sun" - City manager finalist for Mo. job. An excerpt:

"Wayne Page, Ward 1 Edmond City Council member, said (Larry) Stevens told him about the development Wednesday. Page said he thinks Stevens has been an effective city manager and would be a sought-after candidate however this situation turns out.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” Page said."

Then, regarding Kent A. Myers, an article wasn't found in the "Hot Springs Sentinel-Record," which would be Myers' hometown paper, instead, this comes from the "Arkansas Democrat Gazette," City exec a finalist for job in Missouri. An excerpt:

“ If this works out for me, the city (Hot Springs) would have the opportunity to bring in a new manager with some new ideas and approaches. It would probably be good for both me and the community to move on to something else in the near future.” With a population of about 150, 000, Springfield has “a lot of activity going on there,” Myers said. “There is a lot of redevelopment in their downtown area and Mr. [John Q. ] Hammons is very active there developing hotels and is involved in developing a new arena at the college there. And, there is a minor league ball park downtown, so there is a lot of economic activity.” Hammons built the Embassy Suites Hot Springs adjacent to Summit Arena at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

“It seems to be a pretty stable community, and it’s growing, so it offers some growth opportunities for me and some new challenges,” Myers said."

A City news release, in its entirety, received just a moment ago:

The public is invited to meet the three finalist candidates for the Springfield City Manager position at two events on Monday, Aug. 4, 2008.

The first event is “Coffee with the Candidates” from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Park Central Square Branch Library at the southwest corner of the Square.

The second opportunity is after work at an Ice Cream Social from 5:45 to 7 p.m. Monday at the Phelps Grove Park Pavillion. Phelps Grove Park is located between National and Kimbrough avenues north of Bennett Street, just west of the Springfield Art Museum.

The three finalist candidates for the City Manager position are (in alphabetical order):

• Greg Burris, Vice President at Missouri State University
• Kent Myers, City Manager of Hot Springs, Ark.
• Larry Stevens, City Manager of Edmond, Okla.

The candidates will begin the interview process Sunday afternoon with a welcome reception with City Council, the City Manager Search Committee, Management Team and other community leaders. On Monday, the candidates will go through a series of interviews with City Council and Management Team in addition to the public events and an employee reception late Monday afternoon.

Assuming Council makes a decision to offer the position to one of the candidates next week, the candidate will still go through background checks as part of the standard City hiring process. An announcement will not be made until terms of a contract are set and the background checks have taken place.

Citizens can visit the CityConnect feature on the City Web site for details of the public events throughout the visit: www.springfieldmo.gov/cityconnect <http://www.springfieldmo.gov/cityconnect>