Three finalists for Wichita's next city manager include a current city administrator, a former U.S. Army commander, and a county administrator from South Carolina who once served in Manhattan, Kansas.
City officials announced during a news conference Monday that a search committee selected Donte Martin, Mark Freitag and Dennis Marstall from a pool of 89 applicants.
Martin is Wichita's assistant city manager, a position he’s held since 2017. Freitag is the former city manager of Westminster, Colorado. Marstall is a county administrator for Lancaster County, South Carolina.
Wichita residents will get a chance to meet and ask questions of the finalists at a community forum on Nov. 18, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Botanica.
The initial winnowing of the candidate pool was overseen by an 11-person search committee that was headed by Jennifer McDonald. McDonald is the director of human resources and corporate compliance officer at Goodwill Industries of Kansas.
“This was not an easy process,” McDonald said. “We talked to so many qualified candidates with a call for public service.”
City manager Bob Layton announced in April that he will retire at the end of the year, after nearly 17 years as the city’s lead public official.
Following Layton’s announcement, the City Council convened the search committee in June. In August, the council signed a $30,000 contract with CPS HR Consulting to lead the search and vet candidates. The firm posted the position in mid-September, listing the salary range as between $252,000 and $325,000.
The application window closed in early October.
Over the past three weeks, the search committee has considered a group of 17 semi-finalists from the original applicant pool. Last week, the committee interviewed the semi-finalists before settling on their three recommendations for the council.
Martin is the lone local finalist. He began working in city government in 2000 as a neighborhood assistant in District 2. He was appointed as a court administrator in 2010 and for a time, served as the interim superintendent of central inspection.
In 2017, he was selected after a national search to take on the assistant city manager role. He received a bachelor of science from Wichita State University, a master of professional studies in human resource management from Fort Hays State University and a doctor of jurisprudence from Washburn University.
Freitag and Marstall also have ties to Kansas.
Freitag received a master of science in management degree from St. Mary College in Leavenworth.
He is the former city manager for Westminster, Colorado — a city of about 116,000 people near Denver. Freitag resigned that position in July 2024, just shy of two years in the position. Prior to that, Freitag spent nine years as city manager of Janesville, Wisconsin.
He also served in U.S. Army command positions, including chief executive officer of the U.S. Army Garrison in Fort Hood, Texas, and deputy commander of U.S. Army Alaska. During Freitag’s military career, he received a bachelor of science from West Point Military Academy and a master of science in national security strategy from National War College.
Marstall grew up in Manhattan, Kansas, and served as the city's assistant city manager from 2019 to 2021. He received a bachelor of political science and government from Kansas State University.
Marstall started his career in government in Kent County, Michigan, before moving to Charlotte, North Carolina. He returned to Manhattan after serving as the vice president of community investment and impact for United Way of Central Carolinas.
Since 2021, he has served as the county administrator for Lancaster County, South Carolina, which is part of the greater Charlotte metropolitan area. He has a master of public administration from the University of Louisville.
McDonald, the search committee chair, said the finalists’ experience with leadership set them apart from other candidates. She said the committee also considered the candidates’ financial acumen, desire to stay in Wichita, and ability to innovate.
City Council members will interview the finalists next week. Those interviews will coincide with the public forum at Botanica.
Mayor Lily Wu said she hopes residents will be engaged in the process and recognize the gravity of the decision facing the city.
“I think that [the] selection of a city manager of the largest city in the state of Kansas is one that we cannot take lightly,” Wu said.
