Negotiations for the highest unelected position in Sedgwick County government will happen without a job search.
Commissioners say a search for a new county manager would be a waste of time and taxpayer money because they already have the best man for the job: Interim County Manager Tom Stolz.
Some commissioners suggested Stolz should have been chosen as county manager in 2015 over Michael Scholes, who was paid $205,427 to leave in December. Stolz is now in negotiations with the county to drop “interim” from his job title. A vote to approve the contract could come as soon as next week.
Stolz has been in public life for 37 years. He spent 31 of those years with the Wichita Police Department, rising to deputy chief. He has spent the past six years with the county, first as the director of the Sedgwick County Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department and then as assistant county manager of Public Safety, Code Enforcement and Emergency Management before moving into the interim deputy county manager position in 2017.
“If you would have asked me three or four months ago if I wanted this job, I would have said, ‘No way,’” Stolz said. “But this county has a tremendous core of hardworking, loyal employees who I appreciate a great deal. I want to be a part of the solution to the recent damage to the county’s reputation.”
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