Casper, Wyo. – For the past two months, a well-known individual has been acting as the interim Casper city manager while the search for a new, permanent manager continues.
Current interim city manager Zulima Lopez says the last two months have been nothing but an honor, as four candidates were interviewed on Monday for the city manager position. “It’s been an honor to serve as interim, and it was an honor to be able to move into the next step of selection.” She says being an interim since July has been an exciting challenge, especially since Lopez is one of the four finalists. “It has opened my eyes and provided me with a great opportunity to learn.” “This was definitely a new and exciting challenge, even though I have been with the city for a very long time, in many different roles throughout the organization for over 25 years,” Lopez adds.
The most difficult part, according to Lopez, has been juggling the daily demands, but the most fulfilling part has been interacting with all the department directors and serving the town where she was raised since she was eleven years old. “I have to often take extra time to learn about things and get up to speed before I can help with decision making and moving things forward.” she continues, “So it’s just been managing the time and making sure my lack of knowledge in certain areas isn’t holding up important progress.”
Lopez claims that being able to fulfill this position has only strengthened her long-held professional goal of becoming the city manager in the future. “Whether the time is now, or maybe sometime in the future, I’m just grateful for the opportunity to have been able to experience what the position is like first hand, and confirm that this is what I want to do with my career.”
Lopez says she is grateful and humbled by all the support she has received, even if she is not selected to be the city manager. The city claims that although a date for the appointment of a new city manager has not been set, Casper Mayor Ray Pacheco is working to have someone in place by December.
