Former Jefferson City Administrator Steve Rasmussen is one of four finalists for the Joplin city manager's job.
A retired Army officer, Rasmussen came to Jefferson City in February 2006, hired by then-Mayor John Landwehr and the city council.
He was fired from the city administrator's job in May 2011, within weeks of former Councilman Eric Struemph's succeeding Landwehr as mayor.
"I feel that the City Council and myself felt that it was time to move forward with a new management team to help our city, with the largest economic boom in our history being right around the corner," Struemph said at the time.
Since then, the 65-year-old Rasmussen has applied for vacancies in other cities' administrations.
And he has been working with a Nebraska-based consulting company called Interim Solutions, which provides interim leadership to communities that are between managers "and they don't have a viable internal candidate," he said Tuesday afternoon. "I've had great fun doing that and I've really enjoyed getting to know lots of different cities and mayors and councils.
"But, what I've found was, I really just wanted to get back in the business full time - the business of being able to do long-term projects, where you work on it and then see the benefits of them for the city and the taxpayers.
"That's really a great joy to me, at this stage of my life."
Rasmussen told the News Tribune he's attracted to the Joplin situation.
"Joplin has several very difficult problems they're working on," he explained. "One is, they're still in the recovery from the terrible tornado.
"They're working on downtown renovation. They have a real infrastructure problem that they're working on.
"And those are all things that I have done a lot of, and have a great deal of experience and expertise on."
The other finalists for the Joplin job include Sam Anselm of Joplin - currently interim city manager; Dean Kruithof, Bentonville, Arkansas; and Randy Wetmore, Marshalltown, Iowa.
Joplin officials will interview the finalists on Oct. 24, 25 and Nov. 1.
The vacancy was created last Feb. 4, when the city council fired Manager Mark Rohr, a nine-year veteran, on a split vote, the Joplin Globe newspaper reported.
Rohr - considered by many to be one of the heroes in Joplin's rebuilding effort after the May 22, 2011, tornado killed 161 people and obliterated about a third of the city - was fired after an investigation by an outside consultant that was to focus on some members of the council.
Rasmussen was one of 46 applicants for the vacancy and has no concerns about trying to follow someone who was fired.
"In our line of work, we say that your resume isn't complete unless you have been fired at least once," he said. "We know how that happens in this business.
"Circumstances change. City officials change over. After awhile, sometimes, you've just spent enough time there that it is time to move on.
"That's why the average time for a city manager is, I think, five years."