Jay Chapa is poised to be hired as Fort Worth’s next city manager, becoming the first Hispanic person in the city’s history to hold the position.
Before leaving his role in 2022, the former deputy city manager worked for the city for 25 years in supervisory and management roles. During his tenure, Chapa oversaw police, economic development, public events, human resources, finance and Visit Fort Worth, a tourism nonprofit that is funded by the city. Before he was assistant city manager, Chapa was director of housing and economic development.
The search for Fort Worth’s next city manager comes after David Cooke announced in July that he intends to retire in February 2025. He is Fort Worth’s longest-tenured city manager after holding the position for 10 years.
Fort Worth City Council members are set to vote on hiring Chapa as city manager during their Dec. 10 council meeting. The meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the old City Hall building at 200 Texas St.
The council agenda includes a resolution to appoint Chapa as city manager. If approved, Chapa would start in the role Jan. 27, 2025, according to the resolution.
The Report contacted Chapa via phone call and text message seeking comment on what he would bring to the role of city manager and his vision for the position. He did not respond by the time of publication.
Mayor Mattie Parker told the Report she is “absolutely ecstatic” that Chapa has been named the city’s sole finalist for the role.
“Jay Chapa is one of the most qualified and talented city managers in the entire country, and we just happen to be lucky enough that he already lives here in the city of Fort Worth and calls our community home,” Parker said. “This is his community, and he helped build it. Jay has worked here and lived here for 25 to 30 years, and he’s at his core, a public servant.”
Parker described Chapa as a “man of substance over style” who cares about getting work done. She’s excited to see him continue “the highest level of service” with a resident-focused lens in the city manager’s office.
Chapa brings extensive public, private experience
Chapa retired in February 2022 and, one month later, signed a contract with the Texas A&M University System for consulting services. In that role, Chapa is working to establish a downtown Fort Worth campus with the Texas A&M system. The downtown campus has been heralded as a “game-changer” for the city and sparked conversations about a holistic revival of the area.
Chapa also currently serves as chair of Mayor Mattie Parker’s urban rail committee. He was previously a board member for the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth and has served on Parker’s Blue Ribbon Action Committee on Child Care.
The former deputy city manager takes the reins during a time of explosive growth and significant change for the city. One of the biggest changes approved under Cooke’s tenure, moving emergency medical services in-house, will begin in earnest in July. A majority of city functions are moving to the new City Hall at the former Pier 1 headquarters, another project shepherded by his predecessor. And as Fort Worth settles into its title as 12th largest city in the U.S., pressing infrastructure needs — especially the city’s ongoing battle to repair crumbling streets — will weigh heavy on future budgets and bond packages.
Chapa worked under multiple Fort Worth city managers during his time with the city, including Cooke, Tom Higgins, Dale Fisseler, Charles Boswell, Gary Jackson and Robert Terrell. He also worked under multiple mayors, including Parker, Betsy Price, Mike Moncrief and Kenneth Barr.
Barr said Chapa is a fantastic selection for the next city manager, in large part because of his understanding of the importance of economic development in a city like Fort Worth. The former mayor has worked with Chapa both in his capacity as an elected official and as a private citizen, he said, and he has been impressed with Chapa’s understanding of how to balance the needs of different segments of Fort Worth.
“I think Jay understands what it takes to operate a healthy city,” Barr, a current Tarrant County College board member, said. “By healthy city, I mean a community that is both a great place to live and a great place to do business.”
There is also a lot of value in his knowledge of city operations and his relationships with different communities, Tucker said. But he expects Chapa will be predictably conservative with city operations — and may not have the edge or fresh perspective some wanted in a new leader.
“My hope would be that he would be more of a bridge to all the communities,” he said. “I’m not sure the city of Fort Worth’s overall culture and leadership is there. So that’s going to be a very demanding task. And Jay is pretty much a known quality at City Hall, which is what many of them want. That’s kind of the two-edged sword.”
Chapa’s lengthy tenure with the city also means he will bring some baggage from a Black community perspective, Tucker said. He pointed to the 2019 firing of former Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald, the city’s first Black leader in that position, which stirred deep community divisions and resulted in a lengthy civil litigation process.
Chapa was the assistant city manager over the police department when Fitzgerald was fired, and penned his termination letter. City Council members approved a $5.2 million settlement with Fitzgerald in August.
“The role that Jay played because of his position, that strained some relationships, and there are quite a few leaders who will not forget the way that that happened,” Tucker said.
Fernando Costa, former Fort Worth assistant city manager, worked alongside Chapa in various city staff capacities for more than 20 years. Costa, who retired in September, said Chapa was already on staff when he got hired with the city in 1998. Chapa graduated from Texas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in political science, and then received his master’s in public administration from the University of North Texas, according to his LinkedIn.
Chapa would be well-qualified to bring excellent leadership to the city, as someone who already knows the ins and outs of Fort Worth government but also has extensive connections throughout the community, Costa said.
“He has a good sixth sense for what’s feasible, what’s desirable for the city to accomplish,” Costa said. “He knows the organization from the inside, so he knows how to get things done.”
Costa cited various projects he believes showcase Chapa’s skill and qualifications for the role. Those include Chapa’s involvement in bringing luxury residence The Crescent Fort Worth to the Cultural District, the $540 million Dickies Arena project and the Texas A&M project downtown.
Beyond his extensive resume, Costa believes Chapa will be a good fit for the position as someone already familiar with the current council and their priorities.
“Often when you hire somebody from the outside or somebody with limited experience, you expect that it’s going to take a year or two to get up to speed, and that’s not the case with Jay,” Costa said. “He’s ready to do it. He’ll be ready to go on day one.”
Selection process debated
Chapa was one of five city manager candidates interviewed by council members in an executive session meeting Dec. 3. The meeting lasted nearly eight hours, during which time city leadership did not allow journalists inside the building.
Only one council member — District 8’s Chris Nettles — commented on the proceedings immediately after that meeting, saying he was not happy with what he described as a lack of transparency throughout the hiring process.
Before the Dec. 10 council meeting agenda was posted online Dec. 5, city leadership had not publicly named any of the city manager candidates or announced that candidate interviews were taking place.
The Report contacted all 11 council members Dec. 5 to ask for their thoughts on Chapa’s candidacy and whether they plan to vote in support of hiring him for the position.
Michael Crain, who represents District 3, declined to speak on Chapa specifically but said he is proud of the search process that got them to this point.
“We had three times the amount of applications for our city manager than the city of Dallas did. What that tells me is people want to work in Fort Worth, Texas,” he said of the 150-plus applications submitted to the city. “Overall, I think that there was a good debate and exchange with the council after a long day of interviews of candidates. So I’m excited about working with the new city manager to address all the issues that we have and opportunities that we have here in Fort Worth, and continue to move the city forward.”
Nettles said he remained disappointed with the process as of Thursday and said he is unwilling to vote in support of any candidate, adding that it’s “very important” to him that community stakeholders have the chance to weigh in on the candidates before the council vote. Without that public input, he feels he can’t support a hire, Chapa or otherwise. He pointed to the previous public engagement process the city conducted for hiring current police Chief Neil Noakes.
“I don’t think the process was done thoroughly and fairly, and so because of that, I will not support whomever the council is pushing to hire,” Nettles said. “We had other individuals who were overqualified to do the same position, but (weren’t) given even a smidgen of a chance because it was already a baked process.”
Reyne Telles, the city’s chief communications officer, told the Report on Tuesday that city leadership has not asked his office to lead any public engagement efforts for the city manager hire.
Council member Jared Williams echoed Nettles’ sentiments in a statement to the Report, promising to share more about his concerns in the coming days.
“I have serious concerns about the selection process for the city manager position,” Williams said. “The sudden rush to finalize the decision only deepens those concerns.”
Parker said Nettles is “dead wrong” in his stance on the hiring process. She added that she has full confidence in how the process was conducted, describing the national search as “flawless.”
“I know for a fact — give it six months — and when Jay is moving big projects in District 8 and across the entire community from (District) 3 to (District) 2 to (District) 7, all of my council members, including council member Nettles, will be able to say with confidence, we have the best city manager in the country,” Parker said.
City manager is one of four staff positions that the council is responsible for hiring. The other three are city attorney, city auditor and city secretary.
Crain noted that none of the council, with the exception of the council’s longest-serving member Gyna Bivens, has gone through a city manager selection process before. While there wasn’t a formal process in place because of that, he added that the council hasn’t done a public engagement process for either the city attorney or auditor positions.
“The city manager reports to us, not like the police chief or other positions that have a lot of community interaction,” he said. “So I am solid with the process.”
Fort Worth received 154 applications for the city manager position, according to data provided by the city.
Of the five applicants interviewed Tuesday, four were male and one was female, according to data provided by Dianna Giordano, human resources director. Two candidates were white, two were Black and one was Hispanic.
Cecilia Lenzen and Emily Wolf are government accountability reporters. Contact them at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org and emily.wolf@fortworthreport.org.
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