6
Thursday, March 20. 1997
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
City manager organizes Lawrence
By Paul Eakins
Kansan staff writer
When Mike Wildgen graduated from the University of Kansas in 1969, he never thought he would end up running Lawrence.
Gale Garber / KAMSAN
Mike Wildgen, Lawrence city manager and KU graduate, faces city problems in his fourth floor office in City Hall. Wildgen was promoted to city manager in 1990.
Now, as city manager, Wilden goes each day to his fourth-floor office at City Hall to face the problems that may surface in a city with more than 600 employees and 65,000 people.
Wildgen said he felt privileged to work for Lawrence and that he was the envy of many city managers.
"Lawrence is quite a city to be a part of," he said.
As city manager, Wilden deals with general management issues, like designating tasks to his staff. His main focus, though, is the City Commission.
The commission hires the city manager and depends on him to help make informed decisions. Wildgen said he had to know, or have on hand, all pertinent information about every issue the commission might address at each meeting. From zoning to budgeting, liquor licensing to construction, Wildgen has to know what is going on in Lawrence.
Often, the issues facing the commission can be controversial. Wildgen said he had to strive to remain neutral.
"That's the key," he said. "I've got personal opinions on things. But my goal is to give the best information I can to the
commissioners and let them decide. I've got to be careful about the perception I give to the public."
Wildgen is also in charge of helping the commissioners organize and implement the city budget of nearly $70 million.
"It's a very serious, large responsibility to take care of that kind of spending," he said.
Despite numerous responsibilities, Wildgen said there was one thing more important to him than his job - his family.
He has a wife, Linda, and two children,
Chris. 6, and Anne. 2.
"At this age, those two kids are the most important thing I've got going," Wildgen, 49, said.
Wilden's father was also a city manager, in Hoisington. This influenced Wilden to return to the University in 1972, where he had received his bachelor's degree in anthropology and geography, to earn a master's degree in public administration.
He then worked for the cities of Olathe and Kansas City, Mo., until he became the assistant city manager of Lawrence in 1974. He was promoted to city manager in 1990.
By fulfilling his duties, Wildgen has become valuable to the commission, said John Nalbandian, mayor.
As a professor of public administration and government, Nalbandian knows the operations of a city manager. He said that Wilden fits the bill.
"He does a very good job," Nalbandian said. "He's very valuable to the commission and to the city. He's very trustworthy. City Commission relies on him very heavily."
Wilden said he enjoyed helping the commission, and that the most rewarding part of his job was completing a project.
Paleontologist's trip could ruffle feathers
By Mark McMaster Kansan staff writer
Larry Dean Martin, professor of paleontology, is one of several American scientists who left for China Monday on an 18-day trip to study the latest breakthrough in a debate about the evolutionary history of birds.
The breakthrough was the discovery of three small dinosaur skeletons, which attracted worldwide attention last fall when paleontologist Phil Currie told scientific magazines he has evidence of feathers in the specimens.
"If they are feathers, that would be very good evidence that birds evolved from dinosaurs," Martin said, although he is skeptical of Currie's original claim that a black film around the specimens' skeleton is proof of the dinosaurs had feathers. Since his first statements, Currie has downplayed the importance of this evidence.
The theory that birds have dinosaur ancestors is held by many scientists, including John Ostrom, a Yale paleontologist who will join Martin in China. Peter Welnhofer, German paleontologist and a supporter of Oström, also will be there, as well as Allen Brush, an expert on the origin and evolution of feathers from the University of Connecticut. The group's travel expenses were financed by the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences and The Dinosaur Society.
One scientist said that Martin's input would add credibility to the findings.
"Martin is one of the finest paleontologists in the country," said Allen Peducia, chairman of
Do dinosaurs have feathers?
Some scientists who have examined specimens recently found in China say dinosaurs did have feathers.
If their claims are true, it would offer substantial evidence for the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs.
Professor of biological sciences Larry Dean Martin, who does not support the theory, will be traveling to China to examine the specimens and determine whether there is adequate proof that the dinosaurs had feathers.
biology at the University of North Carolina. "He is the world's expert on this area. He's very respected both here and in Europe, and I think that is why he was chosen to go to China."
Martin, who believes that birds evolved separately from dinosaurs, is doubtful that the specimens had feathers.
"I don't know of any evidence that would make me think that they are feathers," he said.
Instead, he said that the reported feathers resembled the pattern of frills on marine iguanas.
Martin said he hoped the gathering would resolve the issue, which has been widely discussed in scientific publications, including this month's Audobon magazine, which features the specimens on its cover.
"Hopfully, with all the evidence in front of us, we'll agree on what we see," Martin said. "It's the simple thing to do rather than argue ad nauseam in the newspapers and magazines."
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