Meet Ed Truelove: Greensburg's New City Administrator
Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 06:36PM by Catherine Hart 
On March 16, Ed Truelove sat down with GreenTown’s Catherine Hart for an interview. It was a pleasure to meet and visit with Ed, who moved to Greensburg from Sterling, Kansas when he accepted the position last month.
Ed’s entire career since graduating high school has been about service to country and community. He spent 21 years in the Marine Corps, and nearly 15 years in law enforcement, with the last 4 ½ years as the Sterling Police Department Chief of Police. Ed talked about having the kind of personality that wants to serve the community.
When asked about why he felt drawn to apply for the city administrator position, Ed replied, “[It was] my experience in going to Joplin. Directly after the tornado I went to help my daughter for a week, to sift through and recover. It made the experience very real.” He feels that having helped his family through this ordeal enables him to better connect with the people of Greensburg.
Ed was attracted to Greensburg’s “frontier spirit” in the local attitude toward rebuilding, reminiscent of an old-fashioned barn raising. He characterized the decision to rebuild in a sustainable fashion as “almost overwhelming” given all that the city had to deal with as it recovered. Prior to coming to town for his interview, he extensively researched other cities that are reducing their greenhouse gases, and studied Greensburg’s Comprehensive Plan.
Before the visit to Greensburg, he had never before seen the dual-flush toilet technology – “How cool,” remarked Ed. I told him about the gift of 400 of these units from the Caroma corporation, and how these are saving the community over 2 million gallons of water per year. Ed talked about “the worldwide contribution to help Greensburg do what they set out to do. How could I NOT apply for this?”
Ed’s commitment to a sustainable Greensburg runs deep. He added that a town “doesn’t have to be wiped out by a tornado to begin doing things like installing these toilets and using recycled materials”.
Ed moved to Greensburg with his 15-year old son. The rest of the family will join him here after his daughter finishes up high school this May. Ed’s wife and their 2 younger children will move to town and get settled in for their new life here.
Greensburg is fortunate to have attracted a person of such integrity and vision for the city administrator post. He has already instituted some changes to make the City more accessible to residents, and no doubt there will be much more to come. We at GreenTown look forward to our ongoing collaboration.