The finalists for the position are:
Matthew Allen
City Manager, Garden City, Kansas. “The City of Amarillo offers me a chance to apply a set of core organizational leadership and community development principles that I have developed over my career in a new, larger, and exciting setting. Amarillo is a community that is proud of its history, but also shows a willingness to change and meet the needs of current and future residents.”
Bio provided by the City of Amarillo:
Allen’s 28-year city government career includes a variety of City Manager’s Office roles and two appointments in chief administrative officer positions. Most of his career has been spent helping expand the economies and influence of full-service cities that serve as regional centers of rural areas. His track record of working effectively with elected leaders, collaborating with public and private sector partners, and assembling and developing high-performance municipal teams has garnered local, state, and national awards and recognition.As the current City Manager for the City of Garden City, Kansas, Matt leads an organization that has helped double the community’s appraised value from approximately $1 billion to $2 billion through new growth and development. During that same time the community has increased its retail pull factor from 1.21 to 1.66, now capturing a trade area that extends into eastern Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and the Texas panhandle. Further economic development accomplishments during his tenure include partnering with Finney County to develop the community’s first publicly owned, price certain, and “ready to develop” industrial site. This ultimately developed into a fully connected 800-acre industrial park which now is home to Bonanza BioEnergy, Dairy Farmers of America, empirical Foods, Inc., and TP&L.Matt’s passion for developing leadership capacity, and helping communities address daunting challenges and accomplishing big goals extends beyond his city management work. He served on the Kansas Health Foundation Board of Directors and has performed strategic retreats as a consultant for other communities and non-profit organizations. His other personal interests revolve around a life-long love of sports and music. He still enjoys playing and watching many sports and spending time outdoors. Matt has played a variety of musical instruments throughout his life, but his latest interest is guitar. He likes to sing and has put these musical interests to use in his church’s praise and worship team, community musical theater productions, and fronting a start-up band which to date has played no “paying” gigs.Matt and his wife Missy have two adult children, Megan and Aaron.
Grayson Path
City Manager, Paris, Texas. “Amarillo is a vibrant, independent, thriving, and dynamic community, the hub of the Texas Panhandle and the immediate surrounding states. I am confident that my character, experience, and skills closely aligns with the ideal candidate for City Manager of Amarillo.”
Bio provided by the City of Amarillo:
Since April of 2020, Grayson Path has served as Paris, TX City Manager. Prior to this position, Grayson was the City Administrator of Nebraska City, NE. He received a Master of Public Administration degree from Arkansas State University and has worked for three great communities as Chief Executive Officer.His career includes working on hundreds of millions of dollars in capital improvement projects, including roadways, facilities, treatment plants and utilities. Additionally, he has been responsible for the development and implementation of significantly sized budgets, tackled important community plans such as Comprehensive Development Plans, Revitalization Plans, Housing assessments, Economic Development Programs and City Council Strategic Plans and has led a wide array of departments such as emergency-based Police, Fire, and EMS, to infrastructure-based Public Works, Utilities, and Engineering, to operation and community-based Finance, Library, Parks and Community Development. His proudest accomplishments are the partnerships formed among many entities within the communities served and the outstanding teams of city workers that he has had the privilege to develop and supervise. Grayson understands the importance of empowering staff, thorough communication at all levels, and giving his employer (the city council) the information they need to make informed decisions as they lead the community.Grayson enjoys building coalitions and working with caring and industrious people within the communities he serves. According to Path, those individuals, and the mentors in his life, have helped mold him into the honest, hardworking, open-minded, quick learning, determined, experienced, and strong-willed man he has become. “I would like nothing more than to have the opportunity to continue working with such people in Amarillo and to serve them with the skills I have learned and experience I have gained.”Grayson, and his wife, Katie, have two young children.
Community members are invited to attend a meet-and-greet event to get to know the finalists and provide valuable feedback.
Event Details:
Date: Monday, June 3, 2024
Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Location: Hodgetown Stadium, 715 S Buchanan St., Amarillo, TX 79101
This event offers a unique opportunity for residents, business owners, and community stakeholders to engage with the finalists in an informal setting. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions, hear directly from the candidates about their plans for the future of the City of Amarillo, and share their thoughts with the City Council.
Mayor Cole Stanley emphasized the importance of community involvement in this critical decision: "Selecting our next City Manager is a pivotal moment for the City of Amarillo. We are committed to ensuring our residents have a voice in this process and encourage everyone to participate and meet the individuals who could be leading our city forward."
The City Council will consider community feedback as a crucial part of their final decision- making process. This event underscores the Council’s commitment to transparency and active civic engagement.
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