Springfield City Council reveals city manager finalists

(From the City of Springfield)

The Springfield City Council is pleased to announce that two finalists have been selected for the position of City Manager of Springfield. Jason A. Gage, the current City Manager in Salina, Kansas, and Wayne T. Pyle, the current City Manager in West Valley City, Utah, will visit Springfield Sunday, May 20 through Monday, May 21, 2018.

Gage and Pyle will participate in a series of meetings and interviews with members of the City’s Leadership, City employees and citizen stakeholder groups, in addition to a final interview round with City Council. The activities will begin with two Live Stream Town Hall events at 4 and 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. Citizens may tune in and ask questions by visiting the City’s website at CityView.SpringfieldMo.Gov or the City’s Facebook page, CityofSGF.

  

Jason Gage has served as Salina City Manager for 13 years, having previously served as the City Manager of Stillwater, Oklahoma. He was graduated from Missouri Southern State College in Joplin with a B.A. in political science and completed a Masters’ Degree in Public Administration at the University of Missouri – Columbia. He served as City Manager of De Soto Missouri from 1994 to 1999 and was Salina Assistant City Manager from 1999 to 2003.

  

As Salina City Manager, he provided leadership for a $155 million redevelopment project to renew Salina’s core downtown area. The project includes a partnership with key members of Salina’s local business community to develop a downtown athletic tournament fieldhouse, a premier hotel and conference facility, a vintage automotive museum, a family entertainment venue, downtown loft and apartment housing, an enhanced streetscape, and niche retail/restaurant development. He is currently providing direct management support for design of a $30 million “Smoky Hill River” renewal project, including; full stream bed restoration, ecosystem upgrades, downtown river walk improvements, complementary hike/bike sidewalk and trail network, related bridge replacements, and recreational opportunities.

  

In 2012, Gage established a Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) Program. This program implements Lean Six Sigma (LSS) tools throughout the organization to reduce non-value operational time and improve organizational efficiency. Over the last four years, this approach to efficiency has resulted in approximately 900 total improvements and $2.9 million in net efficiency/cost reductions (which is projected to be $5.3 million through 2018).

  

About Salina, Kansas

 The City of Salina has 480 employees and an annual budget of $137 million, serving a city of 49,000 residents.

  

 Wayne T. Pyle has served as the City Manager of West Valley City, Utah since 2002. He was graduated with a B.A. from Brigham Young University (BYU) and completed a Masters’ Degree in Public Administration at the Marriott School of Management, also at BYU. He is currently leading a building program consisting of three new fire stations, a police station, a parking structure and miscellaneous projects totaling $59 million. This was accomplished through debt paydown and resulting freed revenue streams redirected to the capital program, without a proposal to increases taxes.

  

Pyle previously served as Assistant City Manager in West Valley City and for Midvale City Corporation in Midvale, Utah. He also served a 20-year career in the United States Army, working primarily in fields of Military Intelligence and Civil Affairs. He was called up twice for Operation Enduring Freedom, 2003 and 2005-2007. He served one overseas tour in Afghanistan.

  

Throughout his 16-year tenure in West Valley City, Pyle created an economic development master plan resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in new development, redevelopment, business attraction and retention. One highlight was a new office/warehouse development that brought 5000 new jobs and 3 million square feet of development to the city in five years.

  

Pyle has served since 2012 as the Board Chairman for the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency, consortium of 16 Utah cities engaged in deploying and operating a fiber to the premises network to every business and household (about 160,000) within its footprint.

About West Valley City, Utah

 The City of West Valley City Corporation has 800 full-time equivalent employees and an annual budget of $100 million, serving a suburban city of 140,000 residents within the larger Salt Lake City metropolitan area of a 1 million population.

  

Meet the Candidates

The Springfield City Council has created a schedule of the visiting finalists that includes numerous opportunities for engagement with the community. The schedule is as follows:

  

Sunday, May 20, 2018
4 – 4:25 p.m. - Jason Gage Live Stream Town Hall Event
4:30 – 4:55 p.m. – Wayne Pyle Live Stream Town Hall Event
Tune into CityView.SpringfieldMo.Gov or Facebook Live: CityofSGF 

Dinner and meetings with the City of Springfield Leadership Team

  

Monday, May 21, 2018
7:30 a.m. - Community Stakeholder Breakfast at Springfield Art Museum
Representatives from a wide array of community stakeholder groups, including, but not limited to: ALAS, Council of Churches of the Ozarks Board of Directors, Greene County Commission, Millennial SWAT Team, NAACP, Prosper Springfield Cabinet, Rosie, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and Springfield School Board are invited to meet the finalists.
9 – 11 a.m. – Meetings with City of Springfield employees and final interview rotation with City Council.

11 a.m. – Media availability with Jason Gage

11:30 a.m. – Media availability with Wayne T. Pyle

Noon – 1:30 p.m. – Lunch

2-4 p.m. – Community Tours for the Candidates
6:30 p.m. – Candidates attend City Council meeting