Raymond C. Lee III named sole finalist for Greeley city manager

By Kelly Ragan

Greeley is set to see its first Black city manager as Greeley City Council announces it unanimously selected Raymond C. Lee III as the sole finalist for the position.

While the usual paperwork and contract negotiations still need to take place, city officials say it’s unlikely anything will derail the deal.

“I want to see this city succeed,” Lee told the NoCo Optimist at a city manager semi-finalist meet and greet Nov. 17. “I’m a person who believes in collaboration and coming together as one to better our future.”

In an interview with the Optimist, Mayor John Gates said the choice wasn’t necessarily easy, as all three semi-finalists were good. What stuck out about Lee was his overall knowledge of city operations and his vision for the future of Greeley, Gates said.

“Nothing about Raymond says status quo — he wants to keep the city moving,” Gates said. “It’s not a good time to be status quo.”

Lee’s qualifications

Lee has been working as Greeley’s interim city manager since August, following the departure of long-time city manager Roy Otto. Lee first joined the city in January as a deputy city manager.

“What we noticed almost immediately was that as interim city manager, he wasn’t running in place,” Gates said. “He continued to pursue what he needed to pursue to get vacant positions filled and to keep the city moving. He was really impressive in that regard.”

Before moving to Greeley, Lee worked in a variety of roles within city government, including public works director for the City of Amarillo in Texas, assistant director for the City of Dallas Street Services and more.

Lee got his bachelor’s degree in public administration from Henderson State University and his master’s degree in public administration at the University of Kansas.

He’s also known for donning some seriously snappy bow ties at city council meetings.

Who did he beat out?

In the first step of the search process for a new city manager, the firm Baker Tilly found a pool of 33 candidates for the city council to consider. Council members narrowed the search to 10 semi-finalists before settling on three finalists, who attended a public meet and greet last week.

Alexa Barton, of Belton, Missouri, and Scot Rigby, of Wichita, Kansas, were also named semi-finalists.

Barton has previously served as a city manager, assistant city manager, county administrator and more. She received her bachelor’s degree in public administration from Park University and her master’s degree in public affairs from The Hauptmann School of Public Affairs at Park University.

Rigby has previously served as an assistant city manager, senior project manager, acting assistant to the city manager and more. He received his bachelor’s degree in political science from Brigham Young University and his master’s degree in public administration from Arizona State University.

Biggest challenge facing Greeley

Gates said one of the biggest challenges facing Greeley is growth. That’s why council agreed it needed to look for a city manager who could govern more than 200,000 people, he said.

“We know we’re growing, and frankly, we can’t screw it up,” Gates said.

Lee knows it too.

During an interview with the Optimist, he said one of his top priorities as city manager would be balancing sustainable growth in Greeley without losing the city’s character.

“Within that, you have housing, infrastructure, retail, eateries and more in an ever-changing economy,” Lee said.

Gates said he’s been impressed with the conversations he’s had with Lee about Greeley’s growth.

“Raymond clearly sees our vision with having industrial growth, commercial growth, and growth that benefits all residents,” Gates said.