Troy Schulte will retire early next year after a decade as KC city manager

Kansas City’s long-time city manager, Troy Schulte, will retire when his contract expires early next year, he announced Tuesday.

By the time Schulte leaves at the end of February, he will have held the post— either on an interim or permanent basis — for more than a decade and served under three mayors: Mark Funkhouser, Sly James and now, Quinton Lucas.

While mayors are usually the principal voice and face of city government, the city manager functions as a chief operating officer, responsible for delivering services and executing City Council decisions.

In that role, Schulte helped see the city through a period of challenge and achievement: its emergence from the Great Recession, passage of an $800 million bond package for infrastructure, the launch of the streetcar and construction of a convention hotel and the $1.5 billion single terminal at Kansas City International Airport.

“I’ve made this decision with a sense of pride and nostalgia,” Schulte said in a statement. “Serving as KCMO’s City Manager for the last decade has been the greatest and most rewarding professional achievement of my life and I am so proud of all we have accomplished, working on behalf of the citizens of Kansas City.”

Schulte’s announcement follows months of speculation about his future. As a councilman and mayoral candidate, Lucas has been critical of some efforts in which Schulte played a key role, including procurement of a developer for KCI and a proposed speculative investment in a downtown office building. The two also clashed when Lucas championed an ordinance limiting Schulte’s ability to approve contracts without Council input.

In this year’s mayoral campaign, Lucas frequently contrasted himself with James, who had a close ally in Schulte. While Lucas and his opponent, then-Councilwoman Jolie Justus, both gave Schulte high marks in one debate, Lucas was often more disapproving of the city’s overall direction.

In a news conference Tuesday evening, Lucas thanked Schulte and his family for his service. His assessment of the manager’s tenure was respectful but measured.

“A lot of people would say that Kansas City is a better place now,” Lucas said.

He added: “Nobody’s perfect, but I think on the whole, on the balance, he’s been a good city manager.”

Asked whether Schulte could have assembled enough council votes to keep his job if he wanted to, Lucas said he didn’t know.

“But we don’t play in speculation like that,” he said, adding that Schulte was ready to go, and he respected his decision.

In Schulte’s successor, Lucas said he wanted to see someone who would focus on public safety, delivery of basic city services, affordable housing and equity, all major themes of his mayoral campaign.

Schulte was named interim city manager in November 2009 after the council ousted then-manager Wayne Cauthen. He assumed the role formally in 2011.

His 10 years on the job, well above the average length of service for city managers nationally, makes him among the longest-tenured in Kansas City’s history. L.P. Cookingham, (1940-1959) holds the record.

Schulte was highly regarded by the business community in Kansas City, including the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, which said in a statement that Schulte “helped Kansas City’s possibilities into realities.”

“We wish him well in retirement and know his positive impact on Kansas City will be felt for generations,” the organization said.

Despite the speculation over Lucas’ and the council’s intentions regarding Schulte’s future, Councilwoman Teresa Loar, 2nd District at-large, said there was no effort to force him out. Members, she said, were waiting to hear from him on whether he might like to continue at the city.

“I just had a feeling ever since the election that he probably was ready to go,” Loar said. “I don’t think it was anything on the council and mayor’s side. I mean, we were doing O.K. I think it was strictly up to him.”

Loar said she suspected Schulte was ready to leave the high-stress, $220,000-a-year job.

“You’ve got 13 bosses, and everybody’s telling you what to do,” Loar said. “And everybody’s wanting something. I think he probably has maybe had enough of that.”

Loar attributed Schulte’s long tenure, in part, to his affability and willingness to tackle numerous issues.

Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McManus, 6th District, said he assumed there was a personal element in Schulte’s decision to depart, but that the arrival of a new administration also made it a natural time for his exit.

“There’s probably a sense that there’s a new direction, maybe new policy priorities that are coming forward, and it’s probably a natural time for someone to be thinking about whether they want to be a part of that or essentially let somebody else take the reins,” McManus said.

McManus said he admired Schulte’s willingness to get out in the community and help. Shortly after he entered office in 2015, McManus said, he had a constituent call with a “laundry list” of issues. He asked the manager to join him in a drive around the neighborhood to help resolve the problems.

“And he did it,” McManus said. “On a Friday afternoon four years ago, we drove around the Hickman Mills area and looked at everything from sewers to broken sidewalks to street and pothole issues. And we made a list and Troy helped me execute through that with staff.”

But with a new city manager often comes change.

Loar said with the arrival of Schulte’s replacement, she and other elected officials will be looking to make structural changes at City Hall. She predicted there may be turnover in leadership of city departments.

McManus said it was too early to tell how Schulte’s departure might change things at City Hall, noting council members only weighed in on hiring the city clerk, city manager and auditor, not departmental positions.

Lucas didn’t offer specific changes officials might look at, but said his office is “always evaluating how we can make the city more accountable, more responsible and more nimble.”

“I would expect either an interim city manager or a new city manager certainly to look into that and to make sure the institution is matching the direction that I think the voters want,” he said.

Lucas said his staff has already begun preparing a nationwide search for a new city manager. In that role, he said he wanted someone who could balance all the city’s issues.

“It is great to have all the most outstanding things in the world,” Lucas said, “but if you’ve got somebody getting shot down the street or if you have dilapidated housing in your neighborhood and vacant lots that are unmowed, then you’re going to have issues no matter how many nice, gleaming towers we build.”

Schulte was not available for an interview Tuesday.

According to Tuesday’s statement, he elected to announce his retirement now to give council members and Lucas time to find a replacement.

“After February, I don’t have any plans other than to give my wife Laurie a break and run the shuttles to my kids’ practices and activities,” Schulte said. “My family and I love Kansas City and have no plans to leave the area. After some time off, I will figure out the next chapter of my career.”

This story was originally published September 24, 2019 at 3:09 PM.