ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Liberal officially has a new permanent city manager with Scarlette Diseker.
Diseker, who started with the City of Liberal in 2022, was officially approved in the position at the most recent Liberal City Commission meeting, and as she tells it, she is ready to continue her work.
“I took over as the interim city manager in October and at that time, it was decided I would stay in that position as long as I was needed in order to help provide some stability to the City Hall staff and give the commission time to find a replacement,” Diseker said. “I really loved my job in the Finance Department, it was very fulfilling and I feel like there's been a lot of great work done there, so I was okay with the commission's idea. But it was around the middle of November when the energy started really shifted, and people were adjusting to the changes I had made as the interim city manager, and we were establishing some really positive partnerships and making those necessary changes. Near the end of November, the commission asked me what I thought about potentially taking the position permanently, and at that time, I was open to the idea, but I needed some time to test drive everything and think things over, and they graciously allowed that to happen. At the first meeting in January, the commission had an executive session where we discussed how to move forward and where I was, and then the decision to make me the permanent city manager came at the commission's Jan. 28 meeting. It was all pretty gradual, which was really good for me and everyone else, because we all just want great things to happen.”
Diseker said she feels very positive about her new role.
“I'm feeling really good about it all, and the day after I was officially approved, I had a few different people ask me 'How's the first day on the job?' but a lot hadn't really changed for me,” Diseker said. “Work is work, and I just came in and did what I've already been doing. I haven't really changed since I started with the City of Liberal back in 2022 – I believe in hard work, I like to win, and I like the people around me to be about the same. I came in that next day and my attitude was basically 'Let's keep this ship going!'”
Diseker also admitted her path to her new role was not entirely normal.
“It's definitely not been a normal path, and I was telling someone recently how two and a half years ago, when I was considering a career change, I didn't think I would become Liberal's city manager,” Diseker said with a chuckle. “What I was thinking, at that time, was getting back to a job where I could contribute to my community and this town I love so much. Liberal's been very good to me. I was born and raised here and went to school here, and I'm one of the few people who chose to stay. You get out of life what you put into it, and I believe you get back the energy you put out into the world, and I have a lot of energy to give. My background working in finance aided me in being able to almost organically move into a position like this. I was the Chief Operations Officer for what's now Equity Bank for many years and did a lot of work on the backside of those operations, and I absolutely loved it since it was such a sweet spot for me. I really loved making things better for people and efficiencies, and when I got to the City of Liberal, I saw a lot of things that needed correcting in the Finance Department, and that really opened the door to people coming and asking my opinion on certain matters, and it all just grew from there. I will admit, however, a reservation I had about taking the city manager position was I did not want to be another statistic and last only a few years, which I've read is about the average timespan for such a position, but that's not what I want this to be. I know I won't have to do this job EXACTLY like any of my predecessors, I can do it my way, which is great. And with my background working in finance, that's propelled me to now. My degree is in management, and I do have experience in supervising medium-level companies and staff, so with all of that combined, everything just came together.”
Diseker added one of her main goals is to help keep Liberal on its current momentum.
“I've really had the privilege of learning the City of Liberal administration from the ground up. When I came to the City of Liberal in 2022, I was brought in to do internal audit work and accounting and more financial stuff, which was downstairs, so I learned the City of Liberal operations from the ground up, almost literally, and that helped me understand each department,” Diseker said. “That work really helped me build partnerships with people I might not have had otherwise, because I had to talk with department heads and other staff members and get their thoughts about what was going on in that regard. My early time with the City of Liberal was mostly transactional – I needed to make multiple changes in the Finance Department and make a lot of those processes smoother and more efficient, so my first two years was mostly transactional leadership while getting all of that work done. Once that stuff gets straightened out, however, that's where the good stuff is, and I'm only just now getting into the more transformative leadership, which is what I want to do as the city manager. I can take all of that work we've done that's been more transactional and since we know where we're at, we can do more with our decisions. No one should ever go before the Liberal City Commission with a plan for a project/idea without the financial side of things being taken into account, so to speak. Everyone has to know what's going on with the money and investments and revenue generation, so I want to make that stuff more open.”
Something else Diseker said she would like to see continue is the beautification projects throughout town.
“We have an amazing Parks Department that does a fantastic job, and we get the most bang for our buck with that department more than any other City of Liberal department, but we still want to see things done,” Diseker said. “Like the upcoming community art mural, that's something we've been hearing about for a long time, and it's finally happening. I'd also love to see a dog park go in at one of the bigger parks in town. It's projects like those that have been talked about for a long time, and the funding and other resources are finally there to bring those closer to reality. On a grander scale, I want to see Liberal grow, but in a financially responsible way. There are a lot of projects either currently happening or in the pipeline, and it takes a while to get projects fully off the ground. I want Liberal to be a community where people feel like they belong and ultimately want to stay, especially our young people. There's nothing wrong with going to college and exploring the world, but we want them to consider coming back to Liberal and settle down and start a family and have an overall good quality of life. We're also going to continue with all the housing projects going on, as well as the economic development that will soon be made public. I want Liberal to have some of those big-city amenities while still retaining that small-town feel and our overall identity.”
Overall, Diseker said, she is excited to continue working for Liberal and its citizens.
“I really want to thank the City of Liberal and the Liberal community, everyone has been extremely supportive of me and the commission and this decision. I realize this position has been kind of polarizing in the past – I'm not immune to that – but overall, I want to assure everyone I have Liberal's best interests at heart and want to do everything as best as I can,” Diseker said. “During my time at the bank, I worked with a lot of clients who were in the government/municipality realm, so I'm excited to work alongside those people more often. We recently had the monthly meeting with the local municipalities, and I knew everyone on that call because I'd worked with them before during my time at the bank, and now I'm working more closely with them. I want to make sure everyone knows we're all in this together and have to have those open partnerships and treat each other well, so I'm looking forward to all of those different collaboration opportunities with as many groups and entities as possible. I also love the work we do with non-profits, and this year, we're working on renewing that partnership with United Way and bringing them in. Bringing people together is what I'm really looking forward to, and I want Liberal to be successful and prosperous. If anyone ever has any questions or anything, they can get in touch with me at City Hall and I'll be happy to help as much as I can. I would like to keep our positive momentum going, because there's a lot of great work that will be happening in 2025 and 2026.”
