Toomay to serve as acting Lawrence city manager starting May 1

Lawrence will keep an internal hand on the wheel at City Hall as the search for its next city manager continues. Assistant City Manager Casey Toomay will become acting city manager on May 1, after Craig Owens begins using the rest of his leave, and she will stay in the job until the city’s new manager starts.

Toomay is no newcomer to the building at 6 E. 6th Street. She has served as an assistant city manager since 2014, after beginning her public administration career in Lawrence as an intern in the City Attorney’s Office. She later spent a brief period as assistant to the city manager in Rye, New York, before returning to Lawrence. The University of Kansas alumna holds both a Master of Public Administration and a Juris Doctorate from KU.

Her portfolio reaches into some of the city’s most visible and sensitive work. Toomay oversees Equity & Inclusion, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, the Lawrence Police Department and Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical. She also serves as the LGBTQ+ Liaison in the City Manager’s Office. That mix of duties makes the temporary handoff more than a procedural step, because it keeps key service areas under a leader who already knows the city’s systems, staff and pressure points.

Mayor Brad Finkeldei said the city hopes to choose a new city manager by the end of May, with a summer start date possible. As of April 7, 60 people from 23 states had applied for the job, and the City Commission planned to begin evaluating applications the following week. Finalists could visit Lawrence toward the end of May, keeping the process on a path that would let the city move from interim leadership to a permanent hire without a long gap at the top.

That continuity matters in Lawrence because the city manager oversees roughly 930 employees, including police, fire and some municipal services staff covered by collective bargaining agreements. The manager’s office also oversees the city attorney, city clerk, communications and community engagement, and economic development departments. In Lawrence’s structure, the City Commission hires the city manager, sets policy and approves the budget, so the transition touches the body that directs the city’s biggest spending and governing decisions.

Owens announced on Nov. 7, 2025, that he intended to conclude his tenure in May 2026 after six and a half years in office. He started as Lawrence city manager on July 1, 2019, following Tom Markus. Lawrence’s city-manager history stretches back to 1951 and includes David L. Corliss, Mike Wildgen and Buford M. Watson Jr., a reminder that the city has long relied on this model to keep operations moving while elected leaders set direction.