12-03-2025
Firm with Kansas roots selected to lead search for next Salina city manager
Two former professional leaders of Kansas cities will be helping Salina in its search for a new manager following a decision by the Salina City Commission.
The commission voted to engage in a contract with Government Professional Solutions, or GPS, after interviewing the firm along with three other firms.
Chris Lowe, who worked as the city administrator of Baldwin, now runs GPS with Bret Bauer, who led Holton as its administrator.
Lowe met with the commission over Zoom to speak on how the firm would conduct its search before answering questions from the commission.
GPS was chosen over other firms interviewed: Baker Tilly, Strategic Government Resources and Raftelis.
After hearing from all four firms in separate 30-minute interview and question times, the commission deliberated about which firm to use in the search.
"I don't think we're going to have a bad choice here," said Commissioner Trent Davis.
He noted that the processes for each of the firms were relatively similar to each other, a sentiment shared with the other commissioners as well.
Commissioner Mike Hoppock said while listening to each of the firms presentations he was really down to two of the firms, either GPS or Raftelis.
He said one of the things he took away from the interviews is that the number of people that may be interested in taking a city manager job, no matter the location, is a much smaller pool than expected.
"I do believe as a community we're in a better position now," he said. "We should be more attractive."
One of the deciding factors for choosing GPS over Raftelis for Hoppock was the familiarity with Salina.
"That brings some merit," he said. "(Lowe) spoke about specific things."
While there was familiarity to the community, Hoppock said the fact that GPS works in other states, including Colorado where Lowe now lives, Texas and others, there is a wider net cast for potential applicants than just Kansas.
Another positive for GPS came from the fact that during the interview Lowe said there were some people he already had in mind when thinking about the Salina job.
In the end, two votes were taken, the first to engage with Raftelis, which failed 2-3, and a second, to engage with GPS, which passed 5-0.
All of the commissioners said they would have been happy if either of the two firms were selected.
"I think that was a win-win," said Mayor and Commissioner Greg Lenkiewicz. "And we have a decision made."
This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Search for Salina's next city manager to be led by Kansas-rooted firm
