Luke Stowe Becomes Interim Evanston City Manager As Search Continues

EVANSTON, IL — As city officials prepare to unveil a third finalist for the job of permanent city manager, the City Council this week unanimously voted to appoint the city's chief information officer to serve as its second interim city manager since the negotiated resignation of its last permanent city manager.

Luke Stowe, who had been serving as interim deputy city manager since February, has worked for the city since June 2012 and in local government for nearly a quarter-century. He has served as director of administrative services as well as in key roles for Evanston's COVID-19 emergency center, according to city staff.

Stowe, who has previously worked in the private sector, as well as management and technology jobs in Champaign and Lake County governments, was named one of Government Technology's "Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers of 2018." The Glenbrook South grad also formerly served on the Libertyville School District 70 board.

---

In an interview with Government Technology earlier this year, Stowe was asked why he continues to work in Evanston and in the public sector which chief information and security officer positions command such higher salaries.

"I got the bug early, in my early 20s, with government and technology and never really left. There's something about trying to leverage government and technology to deliver the best possible services at the best possible price," Stowe said. "There's something about that challenge, in service to residents and citizens that's kind of contagious and hard to shake."

Stowe takes over for departing interim City Manager Kelley Gandurski, who took over the city's law department in February 2020, became deputy city manager last year and took over for former City Manager Erika Storlie following her October 2021 resignation.

"I have been given a tremendous opportunity to not only lead some of the finest staff I've ever met, but also to implement some programs and some policies that really matter to people's everyday quality of life, and that is not nothing," Gandurski said Monday at her final meeting.

Gandurski, who departs municipal government for a job with municipal law firm Elrod Friedman, mused that she may have made history by holding the three positions in about two and a half years.

---

"I leave a little piece of my heart behind here in Evanston, and I'm a phone call away if anybody needs me," she said. "I will be back to visit, and it is a beautiful community and it has a lot of resources to offer. And more than that, it has so much more potential."

On Wednesday, Mayor Daniel Biss took questions submitted by residents about the city manager search in a town hall discussion.

Biss explained some of the factors Evanston has faced in its personnel search, ranging from its unusual level of commitment to social justice issues to staff shakeups at the Civic Center to the challenges in identifying experienced city administrators whose interests align with the city's.

"Most of the people in the role aren't thinking about reparations and climate action and inclusionary, housing ordinances and so forth," Biss said.

"Additionally, I have to be honest and say the amount of turmoil that we've had. the amount of turnover, the number of vacancies that we have in our city government," he said. "That sends out a beacon, and different people interpret that beacon in different ways."

The first candidate who appeared to be the choice of the City Council to become its next municipal chief executive, Daniel Ramos, took a job in Texas. So the city hired another search firm and identified two more finalists.

Biss said councilmembers were divided between those two finalists, with one of them — John Fournier — fitting a more traditional mold of a candidate, and the other — Snapper Poche — a bit more outside the box.

The mayor and alderpeople voted to approve a contract with Fournier, but instead of signing it, he sought to change some of the details of its relocation clauses, and Biss said, the deal "sort of fell apart in slightly confusing ways."

---

Saying he was "not here to make news," Biss declined to specify whether he and the City Council had agreed to present a more than single candidate to the public next time.

But the mayor pledged that at least one candidate would be presented publicly before a final vote on a contract.

"I think I think it's fair to say the Council is committed to putting a candidate in front of the community," Biss said, "Giving the community the opportunity to kick the tires, and then hearing feedback before moving on to a final vote."