Alumni

2000 KUCIMAT Awards

EUGENE DENTON

Lifetime Achievement Award

Gene Denton began his career as assistant to the city manager in Fort Worth, Texas in 1960. He then served as the assistant city manager of Dallas prior to becoming the city manager of Wichita, Kansas in 1976. In 1985, Gene became the county administrator of Johnson County, Kansas and continued in that position until his retirement in late 1998. Since then, Gene has been serving as a consultant. He worked for the city of Colorado Springs to review their city charter and gave a presentation on city management at a conference in Abu Dabai, United Arab Emirates.

Throughout his many years in city and county management, Gene has been committed to furthering the profession through the mentoring of young managers. He has had numerous assistants and interns over the years. In addition, Gene has taken particular care in nurturing KUCIMATS. These qualities are directly in line with the purpose of the KUCIMAT organization.

Gene Denton epitomizes lifelong achievement and dedication to the city management profession while demonstrating a core commitment to furthering the profession by mentoring many young managers. There can be no more deserving candidate for this award nor one who more fully exemplifies the ideals of KUCIMATs or ICMA than Gene Denton.

David Watkins
City Administrator Lenexa,KS
Ron R. Fehr
City Manager, Manhattan, KS
Gary Greer
V.P., Steel & Pipe Supply, Manhattan, KS
Diane Stoddard
Assistant City Manager, Manhattan, KS

Previous winners: George Schrader, Richard Thomas, Robert Kipp, Donald Pipes, Leland Nelson

GERALD FOX

Lifetime Achievement Award

Jerry Fox is retiring from Mecklenberg County in North Carolina and I know he has been extremely well regarded throughout his long tenure there. I know of the challenges he has faced with development as well as dealing with council members from very different political backgrounds that were openly expressed. In addition, he has been a loyal KUCIMAT. It is a perfect time to recognize him, and he deserves it.

--John Nalbandian, Professor

KU Department of Public Administration Last week I received the great news that I have been selected to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. I consider the award to be a very great and significant honor. As I look back over my 43 year career in local government management, 41 years as a county/city manager, some of my fondest memories are KU related: graduation from the Stene MPA program; knowing Ed Stene and the other great leaders and faculty members on campus; membership and participation in the KUCIMAT organization; and the six KUCIMATs who worked with me in the 1970s and who continue to be very active in local government management. Finally, it is especially gratifying to join such persons as Lee Nelson, George Schrader and my classmate Dick Thomas in receiving this award.

Gerald G. Fox, County Manager
Mecklenburg County, NC

JACOB SPEER

Intern Excellence Award

Jacob Speer began a two-year internship with the city of University Park [Texas] in May of 1999. We normally expect our interns to be responsible for a number of ongoing activities including producing a newsletter, keeping current information on our public information channel and phone access lines, coordinating our United Way campaign, and assisting with special projects that inevitably arise. Jacob, on the other hand, has been required to perform a number of complex duties that I would not expect of an intern. However, his experience and attitude gave me, as well as others on our staff, the confidence to ask him to do them. Needless to say, we have not been disappointed as he performed all of them admirably. These have included:

• Served as the acting park director for three months while the current director had hip replacement surgery.
• Served as acting purchasing agent while the current purchasing agent was off having a baby.
• Coordinated the city's Y2K response plan.
• Processed a number of utility rate requests to the city council and on to the proper state agency.
• Developed and processed all paperwork required by recent restructuring of telecommunications franchise agreements within Texas.
• Developed citizen information packet for distribution to new residents signing up for utility service.
• Is responsible for the acquisition of a new phone/voicemail system.
• Is assisting the MIS director on a number of projects including creation of our web site, installation of a fiber optic line between city hall and our service center, and training employees on the use of programs such as those included in Microsoft Outlook.
• Is developing a right-of-way management ordinance necessitated by recent changes in state law.
• As I mentioned earlier, we normally expect a lot of our interns during their stay. However, Jacob has gone beyond those expectations through a combination of his own unique abilities and our resultant confidence in him when the circumstances presented themselves. I am very appreciative of his efforts, abilities and accomplishments.

Bob Livingston
City Manager, University Park, TX

Previous winners: Michael Baker, Sherilyn Lombos, Shanna Sims, Melisa Leal, Cynthia Boecker, Elizabeth Roth

WALLY DOUTHWAITE

Managerial Excellence Award

For two years, I worked for Wally Douthwaite, city manager of Des Plaines, Illinois, as his assistant. I believe the events that occurred from October, 1999 to February, 2000 demonstrate why he deserves to be recognized.

In the fall of 1999, the mayor of Des Plaines, Paul Jung, passed away suddenly after suffering a brain aneurysm. Paul was an outstanding mayor and was greatly respected throughout the city. As a former school superintendent, Paul understood the challenges of working in the public sector. More importantly, Paul had the ability to bring out the best in people and all city employees appreciated his charismatic leadership and caring attitude.

Given everyone's grief over Paul's passing, tremendous pressure was put on Wally to make sure the "vision" Paul created continued. While city managers pride themselves on improving the efficiency of service delivery, promoting sound budgeting techniques, and serving the public, it is how a manager responds to unexpected events that truly defines a manager's ability.

For the next several months following the mayor's death, Wally faced the dual challenge of assuring residents that service delivery would not suffer during the transition to the new leadership, and at the same time, maintaining a sense of professionalism despite the political chaos that existed in the city. Wally demonstrated the true characteristics of a strong leader and manager in the initial hours after the staff learned of the mayor's condition. The management team was assembled to inform employees of the situation and to ensure that work continued as normal. It was Wally's poise and assuring demeanor that kept the staff focused during the initial shock of the mayor's death. I know this was extremely difficult for Wally as he had a strong working relationship with the mayor and they had great mutual respect for each other. Wally did indeed rise to the occasion.

In addition to demonstrating superb management skills during the emotional period immediately following the mayor's death, Wally also had to deal with an unusual, and unprecedented, political situation. The procedure in the state statutes for filling a vacant mayoral seat in the middle of a term was extremely vague. To make matters worse, there was little historical precedent in Illinois to help guide the city through the process. A bizarre political controversy developed as 4 of the 8 city council members attempted to run for the mayor position. The battle ensued for several months, as the council debated whether to vote in open or closed session and argued if a majority vote or plurality was needed to select a mayor. At one point, one of the council members sued the other seven council members claiming she was unjustly denied the mayoral position. Over four months passed before an acting mayor was selected. The grief citizens were experiencing over the mayor's death turned to frustration and anger as the elected leadership seemed consumed with their own egos rather than the good of the city.

Throughout this debate, Wally continued to maintain poise and composure and guided the city through the prolonged and stressful period. Despite tremendous infighting among the city council, Wally continued to move the city forward with its downtown redevelopment project (including a new library), completed the budget hearings, and maintained public confidence in the city through uninterrupted service delivery--all without a mayor.

Over the past 20 years, Wally has developed a strong record as a city manager. He has managed four different cities of varying sizes in 3 different states. He is extremely well respected among fellow managers in the Chicago metropolitan area and among his fellow KUCIMATs. I am privileged to have worked with Wally for two years and I am grateful for his willingness to be my mentor and teach me the finer aspects of city management. The final lesson he taught me was indeed the one I will always remember--how to manage an unexpected, emotional situation with poise, confidence and professionalism.

Wally's leadership and management efforts following the mayor's death were indeed exceptional, as they have been throughout his career.

Gregory S. Johnson, Town Administrator
Rib Mountain, WI

Previous winners: Joseph Hoefgen, Gary Greer, Melinda Carlton, Cole Hendrix, William Noonan, Dennis Hays