BY LUCIE KRISMAN
After four years in Eudora, Assistant City Manager Leslie Herring is taking a new position as a city administrative officer and city clerk in Westwood, Kansas.
Her final day as assistant city manager is Friday. Herring will begin her new position May 4.
Mayor Tim Reazin said the next steps toward filling the assistant city manager position will be challenging due to current events and the high expectations Herring has set.
“It’s a challenge to find that person with the kind of drive that she has,” he said.
Reazin said Herring’s ability to bring the community together and interact with various groups will be valuable in her new role, and it will be important for Eudora’s next assistant city manager to know how to bridge the gap between different groups.
“You can’t put a value on how much she’s done to connect the community through the city manager’s office,” Reazin said. “She’s really stepped up and taken on a lot of responsibility.”
Herring graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2009 and a master’s degree in public administration in 2016.
She was promoted from her original role of assistant to the city manager to assistant city manager, making her Eudora’s second assistant city manager.
“I just got interested in local government and wanted to figure out how to get involved in what was going on in my community,” Herring said. “I thought that the position really would be a very wonderful experience for me as a new professional, to understand how local government works and expand on, give me some of that real-life experience I needed to have a career in local government.”
City Manager Barack Matite said Herring brought together organizations, such as the Parks and Rec Foundation, the Eudora Senior Foundation and the Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“Knowing and listening to what people want and need and responding to those needs is critical,” he said. “That’s what made her so successful in that position. She made that position uniquely hers.”
Reflecting on some of her accomplishments, Herring noted the redesign of the city of Eudora website, writing and administrating grants, such as for construction to the Bluejacket Park Trail, helping to reconstruct city utility fees and working to evolve community groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Parks and Rec Foundation.
“I’m really proud of where those volunteer boards have brought those groups,” Herring said. “I’m proud of that and would consider that an accomplishment to have assisted their development.”
Herring said during her time among city staff, she has seen a positive change in how staff make connections, collaboratively solve problems and work together between departments, as well as form good relationships with other communities, such as Lawrence or Douglas County-based local government departments.
“That’s definitely been a change, how much work we do when working together as a staff,” Herring said. “I’ve sat on multiple boards, countywide regional boards, where we are at the table more frequently in conversation.”
As a city administrative officer and city clerk, Herring’s new responsibilities will include preparing budgets for council adoption, managing human resources, making recommendations for financial decisions, preparing agendas for city meetings, handling inter-department relations, managing contracts and aiding negotiations.
In her four years working in Eudora, Herring said her favorite part of her role is the relationships she has formed.
“I feel like I’ve definitely made some genuine friendships,” Herring said. “I know that I will be taking some of those relationships and continuing them in the future.”
Matite said while decisions have not yet been made for the future of the position, the initiative Herring brought to it by taking on complex projects and connecting the community was unique.
“She led and managed a lot of complex projects and initiatives all geared toward making the lives of those that live in our community better,” Matite said. “The energy that she puts in day in and day out, you can’t find that anywhere. Her contribution to the organization and the community are immeasurable.”
Herring said her advice to someone stepping into the role of assistant city manager is be open to learning new things.
“I think that humility with relationships is important,” Herring said. “Make relationships from a place of humility. It goes a long way.”
Reach reporter Lucie Krisman at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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