David Dillner: From Feral Cats to $100 Million Deals: The Beautiful Chaos of City Management

Episode 249 of The HaltingWinter Podcast Brought to you by Tyler Technologies

What do you do when your neighboring city walks away from the biggest economic development project in state history and the future of your community hangs in the balance?

For David Dillner, City Manager of El Dorado, Kansas, the answer came down to resilience, readiness, and a quiet kind of courage.

In this conversation, David shares his journey from a small-town Kansas upbringing and pharmacy camp dropout to becoming the first city administrator of Edgerton, just in time to navigate a political storm that nearly derailed a $100 million BNSF intermodal project. His story is a masterclass in what it really takes to lead when the stakes are high, politics are volatile, and the unexpected (like feral cats) always finds its way onto the agenda.

We explore:

• How a small-town website project sparked a career in city management

• The real value of internships and fellowships in shaping future leaders

• Failing forward: the budget presentation disaster that taught David to lead under pressure

• Resilience in the face of politics and what happens when years of work are overturned overnight

• The $100 million turnaround: how a well-timed annexation saved a major development

• Why nostalgia can kill a city, and how leaders can help communities embrace change

• The irony of leadership: approving transformative projects one minute and debating feral cats the next

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