Three seeking top Kalispell job

The current and former city managers of Lewiston, Idaho; Rantoul, Ill.; and Sunnyside, Wash., are the three finalists for the same post at Kalispell.

The finalists are:

David Johnston, a Rantoul consultant who was Rantoul's village administrator from 2004 to 2008.

Robert Stockwell, a Riverton, Utah, financial advisor who was Sunnyside's city manager from 2004 to 2007.

John "Jay" Krauss, Lewiston's city manager, who was a recent unsuccessful finalist to become Whitefish's city manager.

The public is invited to a reception to meet the candidates on the evening of March 19 at the Central School Museum. The Kalispell City Council will begin interviewing the three at 1 p.m. March 20. The council possibly could select a winner that day.

The annual salary range for a new Kalispell city manager is $81,553 to $114,175. The manager has operational authority for a city of roughly 20,000 people with a $52 million budget and 190 city employees.

The council fired former City Manager Jim Patrick last October for undisclosed reasons. Indications were that no single major reason was behind the termination, but rather stylistic differences and dissatisfaction with how some projects were carried out.

Myrt Webb, of Columbia Falls, became Kalispell's interim city manager that same month.

Here is a rundown of the three finalists according to their resumes:

Johnston was village administrator of Rantoul from September 2004 to February 2008.

Rantoul- population 13,000 - is in eastern downstate Illinois and was the home for Chanute Air Force Base. The village employed 175 people and had a $50 million budget.

Johnston coordinated the town taking over the 850-acre closed-down Air Force base. He upgraded the town's land-use plan, and led efforts to install a fiber-optic ring around the village.

Johnston resigned that post in January 2008 following a clash with the village board over revising a zoning law that would have set minimum standards on how the outsides of buildings should look. Since then he has been a consultant, mainly working with Savoy, Ill., in updating its land use plan.

From 2000 to 2003, he was town manager of Westfield, Ind., which is just north of Indianapolis.

Westfield - population 11,500 - had about 100 employees. At that time, it was Indiana's third fastest growing community. There, he led economic development efforts, and coordinated the town's buying a $19.5 million private water and sewer system with revenue bonds.

He was the first professional administrator for Coal City, Ill. -4,500 people just south of Chicago - from 1997 to 2000.

Prior to that, he was an administrative director of the Indiana Health Center in Indianapolis, director of stewardship for the diocese of Gary, Ind., after spending six years in Indiana's state transportation offices.

Johnston has a bachelor's degree in American studies from Notre Dame and a master's degree in public administration from Indiana University.

Since 2007, Stockwell has headed his own financial advisory company in Sandy, Utah, but from 2004 to 2007, he was Sunnyside's city manager in central Washington's Yakima Valley.

Sunnyside -population 15,000 - had a $25 million budget and 120 employees.

At Sunnyside, Stockwell guided an overhaul of the town's economic development efforts to focus on recruiting and keeping retail businesses.

He helped develop a citywide ambulance utility to stabilize funding for ambulance services. And he was a key person is setting up a street gang law.

In 2003, the U.S. Army Vietnam veteran was vice president of CeriStar in Salt Lake City, which provided voice, video and data services to subdivisions, business campuses and multi-family residences.

Stockwell was chief administrative officer of the city of Provo, Utah -population 112,000 -from 1998 to 2003. The city had 850 employees and a $138 million budget.

There, he focused on telecommunications issues and on creating Provo's first "community action team" to combine community policing, code enforcement, recreation, health aid and zoning to tackle neighborhood problems.

From 1992 to 1997, he was city manager of Alamogordo, N.M. -population 32,000 with 300 staff members and a $44 million budget. Stockwell ran a county risk management insurance authority in California from 1991 to 1992.

From 1979 to 1990, Stockwell was the city manager for four towns -West Jordan, Utah; Eureka, Calif.; Great Falls; and Sparks, Nevada. Prior to 1979, he was West Jordan's police chief.

He earned a bachelor's degree in justice administration and a master's degree in public administration from Brigham Young University.

Krauss has family and a vacation home in Eureka, which prompts his interest in Montana. He has been Lewiston's city manager since February 2006. The city has a $54 million budget and 270 employees.

At Lewiston, Krauss "overcame" a $1.4 million deficit in the general fund, his resume said. He obtained $2.5 million in federal and state money for airport improvements.

He coordinated a downtown parking study and set up a five-year plan for sidewalk installations. He coordinated the city's biggest annexation in 20 years - 240 acres. Krauss also implemented drainage improvements.

From 1996 to 2006, Krauss was city manager of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., which straddles a peninsula and island near Green Bay that jut into Lake Michigan.

There, he obtained $45 million in state and federal money to build a bridge for the town of 9,000. He helped set up an $80 million waterfront tax-increment financing district.

Krauss overhauled Sturgeon Bay's budget and accounting procedures. He also led a $6.2 million construction of a new city hall, fire station and police station without raising taxes.

Prior to that, he was city administrator of Niagara, Wis., and village administrator of Huntley, Ill.

He earned a master's degree in public administration in 1987.

Reporter John Stang may be reached at 758-4429 or by e-mail at jstang@dailyinterlake.com