Interim City Manager Appointed by the City Commission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 21, 2022

Interim City Manager Appointed by the City Commission

The Herington City Commission has appointed Andrew Avantagiato to act as Interim City Manager for the City of Herington. The appointment was announced by the city commission at their regular meeting held on Tuesday, December 20, 2022.

Mr. Avantagiato is the current Fire Chief for the City of Herington and will be filling in the role of Interim City Manager following the resignation of outgoing City Manager Branden Dross. Mr. Avantagiato has served as Fire Chief since March 2021. Before that, he had served in numerous leadership positions in local and federal fire agencies ranging from New Jersey to Kansas.

While in this role, Mr. Avantagiato will continue as needed in his fire service duties; however, will be operating daily leading the day-to-day operations of the City until a new, permanent replacement to Mr. Dross is recruited. Once a permanent replacement is recruited, Mr. Avantagiato is expected to return to his role as full-time Fire Chief.

After receiving other resumes of interested parties outside of the city’s service, Mr. Avantagiato was selected over 6 other candidates for the position, and he has earned unanimous support from all city commissioners. The City Commission has expressed their confidence in Mr. Avantagiato in taking on this role and also their confidence that other members of the city’s fire department will be able to fill in as needed during this temporary appointment.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the city commission agreed to enter into a contract with Osenbaugh Consulting out of Derby, Kansas who will be leading the recruitment search for a permanent City Manager to replace Mr. Dross. Further information will be released by the city commission and Osenbaugh Consulting as that process moves forward.