Kingfisher’s search for a new city manager ended Wednesday evening.

City commissioners voted 4-0 in a special meeting to hire Jim Thomas, who brings with him more than three decades in municipal government experience.

Thomas was hired after a brief executive session, one in which he took part in via telephone as he currently lives in Metamora, Ill. He will begin his tenure Monday, July 10, which is also the next regular meeting of the city commission.

His hire ends a search that began shortly after Dave Slezickey announced his resignation in late January. Slezickey’s last day was Feb. 14 at which time City Clerk Brittney Hladik also took over as acting Citizen of the Year” by the Claremore Daily Progress, that city’s newspaper. His accomplishments in Claremore, as well as experience with municipal electric distribution services, said Covalt, were part of what made him an attractive candidate for Kingfisher. “He has proven with other cities the ability to help create a long-term plan along with stakeholders in the community and further implement and execute on the plan,” Covalt said. “He has economic development experience and a proven track record with other cities fostering win-win outcomes for the city and other participating agencies. In addition, there are a number of specific ideas discussed during the interview process and follow-ups with Jim that solidified this choice.” One area commissioners have stressed in recent meetings is the need for long-term, strategic planning.

city manager until a new hire was made.

It was Slezickey, said Thomas, that piqued his interest in Kingfisher while both served in the City Management Association of Oklahoma.

“He always spoke highly of Kingfisher,” said Thomas.

Kingfisher commissioners voted 4-0 to hire Thomas with Dawn Taylor making the motion and Kyle Mecklenburg making the second. Debbie Burpo and Vice Mayor Geoff Covalt joined in voting in favor. Mayor Roxie Alexander was absent as she’s been unable to attend recent meetings due to a medical condition.

“I am very excited for Mr. Thomas to begin work in Kingfisher,” said Covalt in a news release sent to the Times & Free Press through Oklahoma Municipal Management Services (OMMS).

“Jim has the professional experience necessary, an excitement about where Kingfisher is going and I believe he will be a wonderful fit for our city.”

OMMS was hired by the city commissioners to assist in the hiring process, which included providing background checks once the commission narrowed its choices to the semifinalists.

“We look forward to working with Mr. Thomas in his new position,” said OMMS Executive Director Steve Whitlock.

Thomas was vice chairman of the OMMS board from 2017-2020.

That was during Thomas’ tenure as city manager at Claremore.

He served in that capacity from 2012-2020 and managed an $83 million budget and 15 department heads.

Among the major accomplishments touted by Thomas during his tenure were:

• The design and build of an additional water plant, which increased capacity from 4.2 million gallons per day to 8.4 million gallons;

• Investing $45 million in capital infrastructure (water plant, new and widened roads, police and fire vehicles, water and sewer lines, two splash pads);

• Developed Claremore’s first strategic plan, “Claremore 2020” as well as a second one, “Claremore Dreams 2025”;

• Updated a comprehensive master plan to address the development codes and long-range development to the year 2040;

• Increased general fund reserves from $600,000 to $6 million;

• Negotiated 16 labor agreements between police and fire unions;

• Developed and passed eight municipal budgets without a deficit.

Thomas also listed on his resume the expanded economic development during his time there, which included new restaurants, grocery store and other retail as well as the expansion of two major employers in the city. That development, he said, created 1,000 new jobs.

In 2016, Thomas was named the “Progressive Thomas has the experience in that with the “Claremore 2020” and “Claremore Dreams 2025” projects.

Claremore Dreams 2025 was introduced in 2018 after nine months of planning that included town hall meetings; meetings with executive leaders, city council members and city department heads; and meetings with Rogers State University leaders.

The project was a 10year strategic planning initiative that, in a promotional video, Thomas said “more than 1,000 voices contributed” to it.

“This has not been a plan cobbled together by a few insiders,” he added.

Thomas told the Times & Free Press that he and commissioners haven’t discussed specific plans for Kingfisher, but “we have talked in general terms about a community visioning process/town hall meetings similar to Claremore Dreams 2025.”

“Jim has proven in his past experience to be successful in not only running the day-to-day activities needed to run the city, but to be a forward and proactive thinker to help position the city for future success,” added Mecklenburg. “During the interview process, Jim was very thorough in answering our questions and came across as a good communicator. I think the people of Kingfisher will see Jim’s passion for serving them and his passion for continuing to build upon the solid foundation that Dave helped create over his 10 years with Kingfisher as well as utilizing his experience to take Kingfisher to the ‘next level.’” Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in political science/ communications from Weber State College in Ogden, Utah. He earned a master’s in public administration from Brigham Young University.

He has been a member of the International City/ County Management Association; City Management Association-Oklahoma, including executive board and president; Northeast Oklahoma 911 Trust Authority; Will Rogers Arena Co-op Board; Claremore Industrial Economic Development Authority; Claremore Chamber of Commerce; and Interfaith Religious Leadership.

He served as board member and/or chairman of several of those associations at different points.

Prior to being hired in Kingfisher, the Claremore position is the only one Thomas has held in Oklahoma.

However, he does have an extensive line of experience in municipal government that began in 1986 when he was a city councilman in Roy, Utah.

He served two separate times in that capacity, once from 1986-1990 and then 1992 to 1995.

He was just 25 years old when first elected to the city council “which led me to graduate school and into full-time city management,” Thomas said.

Thomas was hired as the city manager and city recorder in Roy from 19951997.

He served as village administrator/ clerk in Forest Park, Ill., from 1997-2000; village manager at Whitefi sh Bay, Wisc., from 200002; town manager at Old Orchard Beach, Maine, from 2003-08; town manager at West Warwick, R.I., from 2008-2011; and then was town administrator/ chief procurement officer at Kingston, Mass., from 2011-12.

According to a Sept. 4, 2020, article in the Albert Lea Tribune in Albert Lea, Minn., Thomas was a finalist for that city manager position.

That article referenced a previous story by KOTVDT, a CBS affiliate in Tulsa.

That story said Thomas resigned from the Kingston, Mass., position in July 2012 as part of an employment settlement agreement with the town in the amount of $47,387.93.

Boston.com, which is under the umbrella of Boston Globe Media Partners, reported the resignation came “after allegations of threatening behavior against female employees.”

Thomas’ 2020 resignation in Claremore came soon after agreeing to a new contract with the city. The Claremore City Council voted to approve a severance of $173,106.11.

The KOTV-DT story said Claremore City Councilor Justin Michael voted against the severance because “Thomas was being investigated for alleged workplace harassment that happened in June.”

When asked by the KT&FP about these items, Thomas provided multiple letters of recommendation from multiple department heads in Claremore, including the police chief, public works administrator, the executive director of the Claremore Industrial and Economic Development Authority and the former mayor, William Flanagan, who passed away in April.

“I am well respected by the employees and the citizens and feel welcome when I return,” said Thomas, speaking of Claremore. “This issue has been fully reviewed by the city attorney and he has spoken to officials in Claremore which have confirmed that there was no investigation.

“I do not know what motivated Councilman Michael to state what he said other than to say he has misspoken on several occasions about city issues, which have been extremely embarrassing.”

The severance package paid to Thomas was not a “settlement,” he said, but part of the provisions in his contract as well as accrued vacation time.

Thomas said the allegations from Kingston, Mass., have been vetted and provided the name and phone number of that town’s chairman of the board of selectmen (similar to a city council or commission), Joe Casna.

“The bottom line is both Claremore and Kingfisher have fully investigated Kingston and are satisfi ed there were no issues,” Thomas said.

Kingfisher City Attorney Jared Harrison confirmed that he spoke with officials in both Claremore and Kingston.

“My role in this process is to help provide and gather information to allow the commissioners to make an informed decision,” Harrison told the KT&FP. “At the request of the commissioners, I helped gather information and verify statements made by Mr. Thomas during the interview process about both Claremore and Kingston and that review satisfied the questions that the commissioners had.

“During the conversations with Joe that Jim referenced, Joe did mention that he had talked to Jim’s previous employer (Claremore) about the Kingston claims. Again, the commissioners reviewed the substance of those conversations and were satisfied with the responses to those questions.”

Covalt said Thomas was questioned during the interview process about the scenarios in both Claremore and Kingston.

“Each of the commissioners was satisfied with the explanations provided by Jim,” Covalt said.

“Furthermore, we contacted multiple parties knowledgeable of each situation referenced and were satisfied completely with their explanations matching Jim’s.”

Added Mecklenburg: “These incidents were brought up during the interview process. We questioned Jim about them and received his feedback. We also reached out and spoke with several people involved in both situations that verified Jim’s feedback. Based on Jim’s explanations and the feedback we received from others, I felt comfortable in continuing to move forward with the hiring of Jim.”

Thomas will spend the early days and weeks of his tenure familiarizing himself with the different aspects of the job, which include ongoing and planned major projects such as the sewer plant, new fire station and Newfield Community Park, among others.

“The plan is to let Jim come in, get to know the staff, get up to speed with the different ongoing projects and then, in the coming few months, we will be setting up several strategic planning meetings with him to plan out our ongoing initiatives we would like for him to focus on,” Mecklenburg said.

In his first year at Claremore, Thomas said he developed the slogan “Teamwork and communication are the keys to our success.”

“Teamwork, regardless of your position in the city organization, is important,” Thomas said. “I will be very approachable and want to get to know the employees and their contribution to the organization.”

( Ed. note: Thomas’ employment agreement will be a three-year contract. It was approved at the special meeting, but also must be voted on at Monday’s meeting of the Kingfisher Public Works Authority. Once approved in that meeting, details of the contract will be provided in Wednesday’s edition of the KT&FP.)