Two city employees have been tapped to fill vacant department head positions.

Dave Wagner, a 27-year veteran of City Hall, has been named as the city’s director of utilities, while Toni Ramirez Wheeler has been promoted to the city’s director of legal services.

Wagner takes over one of the city’s higher profile and larger departments. The Utilities Department has a $38 million budget and is responsible for providing water and sewer.

“Dave just has shown outstanding leadership in the Utility Department in the past couple of years, particularly in the transition period following Roger Coffey’s retirement,” City Manager David Corliss said.

Corliss said Wagner has played a key role in planning for a $70 million wastewater treatment plant that will be built south of the Wakarusa River.

Wagner, who couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday, took over that position in February after the former interim director, Chris Stewart, took a job in Kansas City, Kan. Wagner previously was the assistant director of utilities.

The utility director position had been open since Coffey retired in September 2005.

Wagner previously had been ineligible to receive the director position because he lived outside the city limits. City policy requires department heads to live within the city limits. Corliss said Wagner has agreed to move to the city within the next six months.

Wheeler oversees the department that provides legal work ranging from representation in lawsuits to review of city ordinances. Corliss said Wheeler has good experience in the practice of municipal law.

“She is very well-versed on our legal issues and with what we confront on a regular basis,” Corliss said. “In addition, she brings a very strong work ethic.”

Wheeler has served as the interim director of the department since October. She became a staff attorney in August 2000.

Wheeler – who will be representing the city before the Kansas Supreme Court in a case challenging the constitutionality of the community’s smoking ban – previously had been in private practice with a Kansas City, Mo., law firm. She has a law degree from Washburn University and an undergraduate degree from Kansas University.

“I’m really thrilled with the opportunity,” Wheeler said. “My main goal is to have a department that continues to provide city staff and commissioners with sound legal advice.”

Wagner will receive a salary of $105,000 per year, Corliss said. Wheeler’s annual salary will be $78,000, Corliss said.