by Clara McMichael
On July 20, the city of Des Moines hosted a meet-and-greet so community members could meet with the four finalists that the city council has chosen to fill the position of city manager.

The four finalists are Michael Matthias, James Nichols, David Niemeyer, and Nicole Ard.

“The Council wants to hear what the citizens have to say about this,” said Maureen Murphy, human resources manager for the City of Des Moines.

The current city manager of Des Moines, Tony Piasecki, will retire next month.

“I think all seven of the council members have really been speaking about transparency and communication being our top priority,” Councilwoman Melissa Musser said.

In addition to the community meet-and-greet, the candidates for city manager went on a tour of Des Moines, and were interviewed by five panels - the city council, department heads in the Des Moines community, the Citizens Advisory Committee, community leaders and City of Des Moines staff members.

Ard has worked in local government for 23 years, most recently as city manager for Sandusky, Ohio from 2011 to 2014. She worked for the cities of Hillsborough, North Carolina; Leesburg, Virginia and Phoenix, Arizona.

She is a International City/County Management Association (ICMA) credentialed manager. She has a master’s degree in public administration from Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from Howard University.

Ard spoke to the importance of “being able to help promote the assets of Des Moines.” She listed some of these assets as the marina, community redevelopment, and access to the light rail.

Matthias, the only local candidate, has worked with the city of Des Moines as the assistant city manager and economic development director since 2014. He has a collective 23 years of local government experience, and previously worked in Sammamish and Maple Valley, Washington; Fort Lauderdale and Lauderdale Lakes, Florida; and Morgan Hill, California. Matthias was also on the Thurston County Economic Development Council.

He has master’s degrees in urban development from the University of Oxford; applied economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and international relations from the University of Cambridge. Matthias also has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Matthias said his ideas for the city of Des Moines included “working with the community to encourage development, considering redevelopment of the marina and finding ways to enhance the quality of life.”

Nichols has been involved in local government for 21 years, and most recently served as the county manager of Douglas County in Nevada. Nichols previously worked as assistant city manager of Midland, Texas. He held the position of deputy city manager for Las Vegas, Nevada and Goodyear, Arizona. He also worked for Surprise, Arizona and Chehalis and Olympia, Washington.

He is an ICMA Credentialed Manager and holds a Public Management Certificate from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Connecticut and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Northwestern University.

Nichols said he would focus on “capitalizing on the natural assets that are here - such as the marina, helping foster a growing sense of community, and drawing more tourism here.”

Niemeyer has 30 years of experience in local government and as worked since 2014 as the village manager for Tinley Park, Illinois. Previously, he worked as village manager for Oak Brook, Homewood, Richter Park and Orland Hills, Illinois. He worked as city manager for Des Plaines and Harvard, Illinois.

He is ICMA credentialed manager. He has a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Northern Illinois University.

Niemeyer said that the city council wanted someone accessible to the community with strong leadership skills and a way of doing things differently.

“I can certainly do that,” Niemeyer said. “I’ve dealt with all these issues before.”

City council is expecting to decide on one of the four candidates on July 28th during their executive session. However, Musser said the council could delay the decision if it needed more time to deliberate on the decision.

“All four candidates are great,” Musser said. “Each one of them brings a different strength to the table.”