City Manager

Cody R. Sims was appointed City Manager of Evans in January 2023. Prior to his appointment, Cody served as the Assistant City Manager for the City of Augusta, Kansas for eight (8) years and the Director of Economic Development and Interim Director of Engineering for the City of Wellington, Kansas for three (3) years. Cody’s first position in public administration was with the City of Bel Aire, Kansas, a Wichita suburb, where he served as Management Intern and Assistant to the City Manager during his last semester of graduate school. He is an experienced public-sector manager with thorough knowledge in critical municipal functions including Community Development, Economic Development, and Public Works. Prior to his public-sector career, Cody worked for 12 years as a mechanical, structural, and electrical systems designer in aerospace engineering at The Boeing Company, Spirit AeroSystems, and Airbus Americas Engineering in Wichita, Kansas. Upon graduating high school in 1999, Cody served as a volunteer firefighter for 6 ½ years and a reserve police officer for two (2) years.

As City Manager, Cody is the chief executive officer of the City, and is appointed by the City Council. The City Manager is responsible for the efficient implementation of City Council policies and directives, manages the day-to-day operations of the city, and is responsible for recommending an annual budget to the City Council. The City Manager works with the heads of each city department and their subordinate staff to provide professional recommendations to the City Council during policy formulation and adoption.

The City Manager is one of three employees of the City Council, with the other two being the City Attorney and the Municipal Court Judge. All other employees report to the City Manager. It is the City Manager’s responsibility to align and maximize the talents of the various department heads in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the elected officials. The City Manager is responsible for the administration of a personnel merit system with fairness to all and in a manner designed to stimulate high morale of the employees. In doing this, Cody believes in the importance of empowering employees, fully articulating goals and expectations, and holding the team accountable for performance.

Cody is an alumnus of the Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, where he earned a Master of Public Administration (MPA) and a Graduate Certificate in City and County Management in 2011. He also earned the Certified Public Manager (CPM) credential from the University of Kansas Public Management Center in Lawrence, Kansas in 2018, and achieved the status of Credentialed Manager (CM) from the International City/County Manager’s Association (ICMA) in 2020. Cody is a member of ICMA, a member of the Colorado City County Manager’s Association (CCCMA), and a member of the Colorado Municipal League (CML). Prior professional memberships included the American Planning Association and the Kansas Association of City Management.