The Dallas City Council has voted to appoint an interim city manager. The decision comes after City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced his resignation last week — apparently at the suggestion of a majority of the council.
After a barrage of memos — and back-to-back meetings to discuss nearly identical agenda items — the council has named Kimberly Tolbert as interim city manager.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson had said last week there was no rush to name an interim city manager. He did not attend Tuesday's meeting or the Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs meeting on Monday, when the issue of appointing an interim city manager was on the agenda but not discussed.
Johnson, who announced he was becoming Republican shortly after his reelection in a mostly Democratic city, posted on social mediaMonday evening that he'd spent time with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who he described as his "longtime friend and a great friend to Dallas."
Although the bulk of the discussion between council members was done behind closed doors in executive session, several council members said after that Tolbert would provide much needed stability in City Hall.
“That stability is something we can give the citizens of Dallas and the city employees,” District 13 Council Member Gay Donnell Willis said during the meeting. “I support Ms. Tolbert in the interim role as we move toward a new day and leadership for the city of Dallas.”
Tolbert, who currently serves as Deputy City Manager, will take over in early June once Broadnax’s resignation is official. Tolbert started as an intern inside City Hall and worked various roles before leaving to work with the North Texas Tollway Authority — and rejoined the city in 2017.
Tolbert will make a salary of over $360,000 while serving as interim city manager.
District 3 Council Member Zarin Gracey agreed with the most of the council about Tolbert’s appointment.
“I think during this time and this transition, I think Kim is the absolute best choice to keep both the city and the organization stabilized,” Gracey said during the meeting. “I am proud to support this vote today.”
Gracey told a council committee on Monday that he didn’t know why he wasn’t tapped to play a bigger role in the process. Gracey holds a graduate degree in public administration and a certificate in local and state government.
Broadnax’s resignation came with both a push to name an interim city manager and start the process of finding someone permanent to fill the position — and a warning from council members not to rush the process.
And it was clear during Tuesday’s meeting that not everyone was on the same page about Tolbert’s appointment.
“I am uncomfortable with the time we have taken to process this very important position,” District 14 Council Member Paul Ridley said during the meeting. “This needed to be a very deliberative process, we needed an opportunity to consider all potential candidates and I don’t think we’ve had the time to do that.”
Before the vote took place, District 12 Council Member Cara Mendelsohn said the decision was being rushed — and wasn’t being debated entirely in public view.
“I am concerned about a rush to name an interim when we should be considering all possibilities systematically, instead of a campaign that is lacking transparency,” Mendelsohn said. “There are other internal and external candidates that we haven’t even considered.”
Mendelsohn said Tuesday’s special called meeting was engineered by three council members and that the items being discussed were the job of the Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs.
“We shouldn’t even be here today,” Mendelsohn said.
Johnson tasked the ad hoc committee to advise the council on how to start the city manager search process and to recommend potential candidates. That committee met on Monday — just one day before the council voted Tolbert as interim city manager.
Johnson, who warned the council not to rush appointing a temporary city manager, was absent from both the ad hoc meeting and the special called meeting on Tuesday.
“Day to day operations is not the mayor, it’s the city manager, you can check your charter if you have a question,” Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Carolyn King Arnold said. “Ms. Kimberly Tolbert, I believe that you understand the charter, I believe you understand the duties.”
Broadnax’s resignation is effect June 3, 2024.
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