One of the four candidates for the Manhattan city manager job has pulled his name from contention.
Last week, the Springfield News-Leader reported that Jason Gage, the city manager of Springfield, Missouri, no longer will seek the same position in Manhattan.
Gage removed himself from consideration on July 24, the day after he and the three other candidates came to Manhattan for in-person interviews and a meet-and-greet with the public on July 22 and 23.
“After weighing all factors, leaving Springfield just didn’t feel right,” Gage said in a statement to the News-Leader.
The former city manager of Salina, Gage was the candidate with the most city management experience, having served in such roles since 2003 as well as from 1994 to 1999.
In September, the Springfield city council gave Gage a $21,000 raise, bringing his salary to $267,000 per year. The Manhattan city commission boosted former city manager Ron Fehr’s salary to $192,000 in December 2022, prior to his retirement in April.
Hours after Gage’s decision to step away as a candidate, Manhattan city commissioners met in executive session to discuss the finalists. In addition, they held a special meeting for an additional executive session before Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting but did not announce a new city manager.
City staff members indicated that they will issue a press release announcing the hiring followed by a salary figure.
The remaining city manager candidates are Jacob Wood, Jamie Miller and Danielle Dulin.
Currently serving as the deputy city manager of Salina, Wood received his master’s degree in public administration and his bachelor’s in interdisciplinary social science with an emphasis in public service from K-State. He oversees Salina’s 12 city departments and $160 million annual budget. Before that, he was the assistant city manager of Hays from 2015 to 2019 and city administrator for Oakley from 2012 to 2015.
Dulin graduated from K-State with a bachelor’s degree in economics before getting her master’s in public administration from the University of Kansas. She has spent the last three years as the city manager of Warrensburg, Missouri, where she is responsible for a $45.7 million annual budget and oversees a staff of 134 full-time employees. She was previously the assistant to the city manager for Lenexa, Prairie Village and Mission Hills.
The only candidate who hasn’t worked in the Midwest, Miller has more than 10 years of local government experience, and for the last two years, she has been the city manager of Paris, Kentucky, where she is responsible for a $39 million budget and 138 full-time employees. She began working in the human resources department in Port Orange, Florida, and earned promotions to financial budget analyst, administrative services director and deputy city manager. She has a bachelor’s in psychology from Stetson University and a master’s in industrial and organizational psychology from the University of Central Florida.
