By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
After graduating from Great Bend High School in 2008, Logan Burns took a
path of working in construction, which led him to the building official with
the City of Great Bend and now leading the entire town’s day-to-day operations as interim
city administrator.
In his early 30s, Burns was appointed assistant city administrator in November
2022 after serving as building official for three and a half years. Less than a
month after his promotion, the Great Bend City Council approved Burns to become
the interim administrator after Kendal Francis announced his resignation as
administrator.
Even with the interim title currently, Burns stated the city is not going
backwards while he is in the position, and the administration plans to keep
pushing forward on several projects.
"I'm taking on some of the stuff Kendal was dealing with," said Burns. "It's been a lot of learning and retaining as much information as you can. I'm managing everything coming in currently. We have a good bunch of department heads. That helps out a lot."
After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in construction from Kansas State
University, Burns worked for Joiner Construction for more than four years. He was named Great Bend’s Building Official in March 2019.
Burns has been part of the search process to find the permanent administrator and
said it could be another five to six months before the position is filled.
Strategic Government Resources (SGR) was hired to handle the search and is ironing
out the qualities the city wants in their next administrator.
"I think we want a well-rounded knowledge of city government for the position," said Burns. "I think knowing what Great Bend is about and some of the qualities they can bring for economic development opportunities."
After the job has been posted for a period of time, online interviews will be
scheduled, followed by in-person interviews with finalists.