photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Eudora is a town of about 6,500 people in eastern Douglas County, near the former Sunflower Army Ammunition plant where Panasonic plans to build a $4 billion battery plant for electric vehicles.

The City of Eudora will be looking for a new city manager just as the eastern Douglas County community is expected to see an influx of growth from development of the nearby $4 billion Panasonic battery plant.

Longtime City Manager Barack Matite announced at Monday’s Eudora City Commission meeting that he had accepted a job as deputy city manager in Rockville, Maryland, a community of about 70,000 people in the Washington, D.C., metro area. He will start that position in late January.

Eudora Mayor Tim Reazin said the City Commission would soon announce an interim city manager and would begin working to find Matite’s replacement.

“We will find someone who works with us all to maintain the sense of community we have grown to love,” Reazin said in a written statement.

Reazin said it was not a surprise that Matite was moving into a leadership role in a larger community, saying he “has been highly sought after” by multiple communities in the past.

Matite told the Journal-World that a recruiting firm first approached him about applying for the Maryland job, and he ultimately decided to explore the opportunity because he has family on the East Coast and he recognized the quality of the Rockville community.

“I just felt like it was an opportunity I would regret not exploring,” Matite said.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Barack Matite, interim city manager at Eudora, Kansas.

Matite has been with the City of Eudora since 2012, after completing the master’s of public administration program at KU. His departure comes at a time when Eudora is on the radar of multiple developers and other entities looking to capitalize off the construction of a $4 billion, 4,000-job Panasonic plant that will manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. That plant is under construction in De Soto and expects to begin producing batteries in early 2025.

The plant site is less than a 10-minute drive from the eastern edge of Eudora. As a result, economic development leaders expect that Eudora — a community of about 6,500 people — will see an influx of new housing and businesses as the Panasonic plant greatly increases the number of people and dollars in the area.

The City of Eudora has been fielding multiple requests from developers looking to create new housing in the community, and the city itself has been active in some development. It has served as the developer of the former Nottingham elementary school site on the north side of Kansas Highway 10 that will house restaurants, banking, a convenience store and other retail and service businesses.

It also is in the early stages of an even larger retail and mixed-use project on the south side of Kansas Highway 10 that would build an arena to house everything from mixed martial arts events to concerts on property just northeast of the K-10 and Church Street interchange. The city envisions that project, which also would include retail, housing and other amenities, receiving STAR bond financing through the state of Kansas, which is the same type of special financing district used to create the Kansas Speedway complex and other major destinations in the state.

Reazin, in his message to the community, said he remains committed to keeping those projects and others moving as the city finds a new city manager.

“We look forward to continuing with our long term plan, including the growth anticipated from the Panasonic plant,” Reazin said. “Our desire to build a strong retail tax base with Nottingham Center and the future STAR bond district will be at the forefront of our efforts.”

Matite said he was confident the city would have success in the future because community leaders have done a good job of focusing on what will be needed in the decades to come. He also thinks the planning work the community has done and the opportunities for growth will attract a strong crop of candidates seeking to become the community’s city manager.

“What we have makes it very attractive to anyone who wants to advance their career or is looking for something unique,” Matite said. “The community’s political leadership is stable, and it has a vision. The position will be very attractive to a lot of folks.”

Matite said he hasn’t determined when his last day with the city of Eudora will be, but suspected it will be in early to mid January.