Dallas City Council divided over search for new city manager
DALLAS - The Dallas City Council is divided over the search for a new city manager.
Three council members tried to take over the process by calling a special city council meeting Monday morning. However, the majority of council members refused to attend the meeting.
After meeting two and a half hours behind closed doors Monday afternoon, Dallas City Council members on a committee in charge of the city manager hiring process voted to hold interviews on December 23, sooner than originally planned.
Council members Gay Donnell Willis, Paula Blackmon and Jaynie Schultz say they are frustrated with the administrative committee tasked with spearheading the search for a new city manager.
In an effort to take control of the process, the three signed a memo forcing a special meeting of the full Dallas City Council.
"It was our goal to bring the body together to be able to discuss this very important hire for the CEO of the ninth-largest city in America and move this process forward," Willis said.
However, the full council did not show up Monday morning for the special meeting. There weren’t even the nine members needed for a quorum.
With only five city council members present, the special meeting could not happen.
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"For members to not show up is not respecting process and procedure. Our duty is to show up," said Councilmember Adam Bazaldua.
"Our homework's late. We are getting an F right now," said Councilmember Omar Narvaez. "Dallas deserves an A-plus."
Willis said she joined Blackmon and Schultz to call for the special meeting Monday when the ad-hoc committee moved the deadline back to hire a city manager from Oct. 31 to February 10.
"We were ready to interview informally virtually three of the semifinalist candidates, and we have one onsite," Willis said.
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FOX 4 asked Council member Tennell Atkins, the chair of the administrative committee, what he thought about council members calling for a special meeting.
"I was not here. I would not comment on that," he said.
"Why were you not here?" asked FOX 4 Reporter Lori Brown.
"… I was not here," he repeated.
Several Dallas residents went to city hall to call for interim city manager Kim Tolbert to be named the permanent hire.
"So many problems are facing us," said Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce Chairman Randall Bryant. "If we don't get a permanent city manager, they will be permanent problems."
Whoever takes the job inherits ongoing challenges with police and fire pension funding and changes to the city charter that could expose the city to more lawsuits.
Among those supporting Tolbert at the meeting that couldn't happen was Mavericks CEO Cynt Marshall.
"We had a winning team on the court last night," she said. "I believe you have a winning team on the court with our interim city manager, Kim Tolbert, and her team. We would like to see her made permanent along with that entire team."
What's Next
There will now be five candidates interviewed.
The committee removed one of the four previously named semi-finalists, and two new finalists have been added. However, those names haven’t been made public yet.
The interviews two days before Christmas will be virtual.