Centerville City Council is planning a nationwide search its next city manager, according to a release from the city. Additional details about the recruitment process are still to come.
“City Council was confident when Wayne was hired that he would be goal-focused, not seek the spotlight for himself, and would, in fact, develop a team that would work successfully together and with Council to make the advancements our community needed and the vision for the future we all shared. Wayne’s leadership is evident in every major advancement our community has made since 2017,” Mayor Brooks Compton said in a press release.
Since starting in August 2017, Davis has been in charge of the city’s more than $75 million annual budget, along with leading all municipal operations, including the Police Department, Public Works, Development, Finance, Benham’s Grove and The Golf Club at Yankee Trace.
The city highlighted a number of projects Davis was involved in overseeing in his nearly nine-year tenure, including the revitalization of Uptown Centerville, which is the area that stretches along Main Street from Alex Bell Road to south of Franklin Street. It encompasses the Architectural Preservation District at State Route 48 and Franklin Street and is the heart of Centerville, according to the city website, and it is home to nearly 100 businesses.
Also during Davis’ time as city manager, the city developed Cornerstone Park, constructed the new event center at Benham’s Grove and completed major improvements at Stubbs Park.
When Davis was in the process of being hired in 2017, City Council was drawn to Davis’ commitment to collaborating with local, state and federal leaders, according to the city, along with building relationships with the business community.
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Credit: JIM NOELKER
Over the course of his service, Davis oversaw the overhaul of the city’s organizational culture, promoting high‑performance work practices, performance metrics, and LEAN process improvements, the latter being a methodology geared toward eliminating waste from workflows.
Davis also guided the city through its first five-year strategic plan, which City Council approved in 2018. He is currently leading the implementation of the second strategic plan.
“I know that City Council will all miss him, not only in his role as city manager, but as a friend, knowing and thankful that nine years ago we made the right selection,” Compton said.
Before joining Centerville, Davis served six years as the city manager in Montgomery, a city in Hamilton County where he also held the roles of assistant city manager and finance director. Davis is a past president of the Ohio City/County Management Association and a member of the International City/County Management Association and Centerville Rotary Club.
Before working for the city of Montgomery, he worked for Montgomery County in several roles, including as a management analyst for Montgomery County Office of Management and Budget and budget analyst for Combined Health District of Montgomery County, according to previous reporting.
Davis received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Vermont, attended United States Air Force Budget Officers School and received his a master’s in urban administration from Wright State University.
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