Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON — Great Bend City Administrator Kendal Francis will be hired as the Hutchinson city administrator, pending the approval of his contract by the Hutchinson City Council in their meeting Tuesday.
According to the contract as printed in the meeting agenda documents, Francis will start in Hutchinson on Jan. 1 and receive a bi-weekly base salary of $6,730.77 and a one-time payment of $10,000 for relocation, housing, down payment assistance and related incidentals.
The city also is going to contribute 3 percent of Francis' base salary on his behalf to a deferred compensation program of his choice.
He will also receive a $500 monthly vehicle allowance to use his own vehicle for city business and a $100 monthly cellphone allowance.
Francis has worked in municipal positions since at least 1994. According to his LinkedIn profile, he was a wastewater treatment plant operator in Beloit from 1994 to 2007 and foreman of the water plant from 2007 to 2009, before being named director of water/wastewater operations in March 2009, holding that job until January of 2014.
He then became city administrator in Lakin for a year and a half, then Coffeyville for not quite three years, before coming to Great Bend in July 2018.
Interim City Manager Gary Meagher has been serving Hutchinson since Jeff Cantrell's contract was not renewed in mid-May.