Lawrence city manager search advances as contract talks continue

Lawrence has made an offer to the City Commission’s chosen city manager candidate, but the contract was still being negotiated as Mayor Brad Finkeldei waited for legal counsel and consultant Strategic Government Relations to finish the details. Finkeldei said the city hoped to wrap up the talks soon, then bring the agreement back for a final vote and announcement shortly afterward. Until that happens, Lawrence is keeping the candidate’s name private.

The delay leaves residents waiting on a decision that will set the city’s administrative direction for years. The city manager is Lawrence’s chief administrative officer and oversees about 930 employees, along with the annual budget, adopted budget, capital improvement programs, intergovernmental relations and the materials that shape City Commission meetings. In a city wrestling with homelessness policy, road work, growth pressures and trust in City Hall, the person in that office will influence what gets done and how quickly.

The search moved into this final stretch after Craig Owens announced on Nov. 7, 2025, that he would conclude his tenure in May 2026. Owens had served since 2019, and the city described him as having 6.5 years in the job. Lawrence hired Texas-based Strategic Government Resources to run recruitment and vetting, and the firm assembled a pool of 60 municipal professionals from 23 states. There were no internal candidates.

The city first named five finalists, then reduced the list to four on May 19 after David Vela withdrew. Joe Fivas, Joseph Lessard, Majed Al-Ghafry and Michael Kovacs took part in a public meet-and-greet May 20 at the Carnegie Building, where community members raised concerns that all of the finalists were men and a majority were white. At that event, Doug Thomas of SGR told attendees that Lawrence had unusually many issues to weigh, saying the position had “a full page” of challenges.

Those challenges were spelled out in the recruitment materials: economic development, growth management, affordability, university relations, intergovernmental partnerships and a major strategic planning update. Lawrence’s own history page lists eight city managers from James H. Wigglesworth, who started in 1951, through Owens, a reminder that this hire will join a long line of leadership decisions with direct consequences for day-to-day government in Douglas County.