Interviews ahead for city candidates

The Kalispell City Council will interview the five finalists for the open city manager's job on Wednesday.

The finalists are Joseph Frei of Columbus, Neb.; Jane Howington of Dayton, Ohio; John "Jay" Krauss of Lewiston, Idaho; Matt McKillip of Kokomo, Ind.; and Edwin Meece of Livingston.

The public interviews will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Museum at Central School.

Wednesday's session will follow a public meet-and-greet session for the finalists from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Hockaday Museum of Art.

The annual salary range for a new Kalispell city manager is $95,000 to $125,000. The manager has operational authority for a city of roughly 20,000 people with a $52 million budget and about 190 city employees.

The council is looking for a replacement for Jim Patrick, who was fired as city manager in October 2008.

Myrt Webb of Columbia Falls has been interim city manager since then.

Here are brief biographies of the finalists:

Joseph Frei

Frei was city administrator of Columbus, Neb., from 1999 to 2005.

Columbus has a population of about 21,000 with 167 full-time city employees and an annual budget of about $50 million.

In 1999, he was interim city administrator of O'Fallon, Ill., which is roughly the same size as Columbus.

From 1997 to 1998, he was in charge of shutting down and cleaning up the St. Louis National Stockyards.

Frei was city manager of Highland, Ill., from 1987 to 1996 and city manager of Pocahontas, Iowa, from 1984 to 1987.

He has a master's degree in public administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Jane Howington

Howington has been Dayton, Ohio, assistant city manager since 2007. Dayton's population is roughly 170,000.

Howington was city manager of Oxford, Ohio, from 2000 to 2007. Oxford's population is roughly 22,000, and the city budget is about $29 million. She was Oxford's planning director from 1996 to 2000.

She was a research assistant at the Center For Public Management and Regional Affairs while earning her master's degree in public administration at Miami University, Ohio, in 1994 and 1995.

Howington was town administrator of Lunenberg, Mass., from 1987 to 1994 and served in planning positions at two other Massachusetts towns from 1983 to 1987.

John "Jay" Krauss

Krauss has been the city manager of Lewiston since 2006.

Lewiston's population is roughly 31,000 with 270 city employees and a $54 million budget.

In Lewiston, Krauss overcame a $1.4 million budget deficit.

He was one of the original three finalists for the Kalispell job in March. But Krauss withdrew his application, which helped prompt Kalispell's second search for candidates. During the second search, Krauss reapplied for the Kalispell post.

He was city administrator of Sturgeon Bay, Wis.., from 1996 to 2006, city administrator of Niagara, Wis., from 1993 to 1996, and village administrator of Huntley, Ill., from 1990 to 1992.

He has a master's degree in public administration from North Illinois University.

Matt McKillip

McKillip was mayor and city manager of Kokomo, Ind. from 2004 to 2007 - recruited to run by the business community. Kokomo has a population of about 50,000 with 525 city employees.

While in office, he cut Kokomo's spending by $9 million in his first year and spent $13.5 million less than what was budgeted over three years.

Since 2007, he was chief executive officer of Katra Healthcare USA before becoming a management consultant in 2009.

He founded a high-tech consulting firm called Momentum in 1995 and was its boss until 2003. He was a Procter & Gamble executive from 1986 to 1995.

He has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Purdue University.

Edwin Meece

Meece has been Livingston's city manager since 2006. Livingston's population is roughly 7,000.

From 2003 to 2006, he was assistant director for general services administration and public works for the Louisville-Jefferson County Metropolitan District in Kentucky. He was in charge of 55 people, a $11.5 million budget and 4,000 pieces of equipment.

He was city administrator of both Bardstown, Ky., from 1997 to 2003 and Taylor Mill, Ky., from 1993 to 1997.

Meece has a master's degree in public administration from Northern Kentucky University.