KALAMAZOO, MI — Malcolm Hankins will be Kalamazoo’s next city manager.

The Kalamazoo City Commission offered Hankins the job during its Monday, Oct. 20 meeting and he accepted.

Hankins, the assistant city manager in Des Moines, Iowa, has more than 35 years of local government experience in Iowa, Arizona and Colorado.

The commission still needs to negotiate with Hankins before the deal is done. Contract details will require commission approval at an upcoming meeting.

The vote was 6-1, with Qianna Decker as the only no vote. However, during discussion, four commissioners were in favor of Hankins (Alonzo Wilson, Don Cooney, Stephanie Hoffman and Chris Praedel) and three were in favor of Kalamazoo COO Laura Lam (Decker, Vice Mayor Jeanne Hess and Mayor David Anderson).

Lam was the only in

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