Scottsbluff Council Picks 3 Semi-Finalists For City Manager

     The Scottsbluff City Council has named 3 semi-finalists to be the next city manager and will hold Zoom interviews with all 3 a week from Friday on the 30th before picking two of them as finalists and bringing them in for in-person interviews.

     The semi-finalists are Scottsbluff Police Chief and Co-Interim City Manager Kevin Spencer; Lansing, KS, Community and Economic Development Director Matthew Schmitz, and Rawlins, WY, city manager Shawn Metcalf.

    Scottsbluff has been without a permanent city manager since the City Council in February unanimously terminated former City Manager Dustin Rief’s contract following his one-year job performance evaluation.

     Mayor Jeanne McKerrigan said the council acted after determining deficiencies in Rief’s administrative skills could not be sufficiently improved. 

     Of the 3 semi-finalists to succeed Rief, Spencer is by far the best known locally. He spent 9 years in law enforcement in Kansas before coming to the Panhandle in 2000 as police chief in Morrill.

      Spencer joined the Scottsbluff Police Department in March 2011 as a captain and was named chief in May 2013.

     Shawn Metcalf has served as Rawlins City Manager since September 2020 after roughly 5 years of  city government experience in Utah.

      Matthew Schmitz has been the Community & Economic Development Director in Lansing for more than 4-½ years. 

     He began his professional career as an engineering technician in the private sector for over 5-1/2 before taking a similar position with the city of Shawnee, KS, where he spent 11-½ years, rising to Management Analyst and Right of Way Manager.