Kingfisher City Manager Dave Slezickey was recognized as Oklahoma’s city manager of the year at the Oklahoma Municipal League’s annual awards banquet Thursday night.

Slezickey is the 31st recipient of the annual Gerald Wilkins Award, presented by the City Management Association of Oklahoma in recognition of the late Wilkins, former OML president, adviser to the Oklahoma Department of Commerce and longtime city manager at Enid, Ardmore and Seminole.

Recipients of the Gerald Wilkins Award are credited with strengthening the city management form of government through their stable length of service to cities, dedication to civic activities, and participation in and contribution to CMAO and the International City Management Association.

Recipients must have fully accepted the principles of ethics as outlined in the ICMA Code of Ethics and applied these ethical principles to his or her conduct in the field of city management, according to a CMAO news release.

“I humbly accepted it on behalf of my supportive family; my outstanding team, the most dedicated and committed employees; an amazing governing board with a progressive vision, and wonderful volunteers that strive to make our community better,” Slezickey wrote on Facebook Thursday night.

Slezickey has a 10-year career in local government and serves on the board of directors for the City Management Association of Oklahoma as well as the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority, Oklahoma Municipal Utility Services Authority and the Municipal Electric Systems of Oklahoma.

Under his management, Kingfisher has seen improvements in parks, trails, the aquatic center, traffic signals, smart utility meters, water treatment drainage, flood projects and improving reliability for electric customers.

During his tenure, city government has focused on economic development, helping facilitate construction of a new major hotel, a 15-unit duplex, a 10-unit condominium development and four new restaurants.

Beyond his duties as city manager, Slezickey is an active volunteer in Chamber of Commerce activities, Kingfisher Public Schools, the library reading program, little league coaching and substitute officiating, aiding the Kingfisher Ministerial Alliance in finding resources for those in need, was a founding member in Kingfisher Winter Nights and more.

Slezickey holds a master’s degree in business administration, an undergraduate degree in history and political science and is a graduate of the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy.

He is also actively involved in the University of Central Oklahoma’s Master of Public Administration program, mentoring and encouraging future public officials.

His wife Melissa is guidance counselor and assistant principal at Kingfisher Middle School.

Their son Cash is a freshman at Kingfisher High School and daughter Mattie is a fifth grader and the family attends Lifeway Church.

Slezickey’s wife, city commissioners Roxanne Alexander, Wendell Prim and Tammy Mueggenborg and their spouses and a number of other city officials were on hand for the award presentation.