Some Dallas City Council members are looking at naming an interim city manager. That’s after City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced his resignation earlier this month — seemingly at the suggestion of most of the council.
The council is slated to discuss naming Deputy City Manager Kimberly Tolbert as interim city manager at a special called meeting on Tuesday. Tolbert would take over temporarily while the council works to hire a new city manager when Broadnax’s resignation is effective in early June.
Tolbert worked in various roles at City Hall until joining the North Texas Tollway Authority in 2008. In February 2017, Tolbert rejoined the city.
The meeting will be the second time council members will discuss the resignation of Broadnax — and the path to finding a new city manager.
On Monday, city officials told the Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs that it could take months to find a firm to conduct the search process. When council members asked where the city was in the search process, Human Resources Director Nina Arias told them this:
“At this moment we are looking for what is the best search firm to engage,” Arias said. “So, the very beginning of the process…that’s the first decision to be made.”
The Ad Hoc committee meeting was scheduled after the body was tasked by Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson to advise the council on the process to find a new city manager. In a memo, Johnson also said he would not be attending the meeting slated for Tuesday to discuss naming an interim-city manager.
“There is simply no need or reason to rush this process, and any decisions about how to move forward should be made in a manner that inspires public confidence,” Johnson said in the memo.
Johnson added two new members to the committee — District 14 Council Member Paul Ridley and District 10 Council Member Kathy Stewart. Stewart was recently elected to her first term last year.
During Monday's meeting, at least one council member called attention to who was added to the administrative committee tasked with advising on the next steps to finding a city manager — and who was not.
“Obviously this is one that is very close to me and I don’t understand, completely being a freshman, the process for being added to the advisory committee,” District 3 Council Member Zarin Gracey said. “So publicly I want to offer my services and experience…I am student of public administration.”
Gracey said during the meeting he holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership and a certification in state and local government from Harvard.
“I’ve gone through this process on both sides,” Gracey said. “I have been a candidate and gone through the selection process to become a city manager…and I’ve worked for the city of Dallas for 16 years.”
Monday’s meeting – which is usually made up of only five committee members — was attended by every council member except Johnson.
“Its definitely important,” District 7 Council Member Adam Bazaldua said about the meeting’s attendance. “It says a lot.”
Broadnax’s resignation and the search for a new manager come after cited tensions with the city council. Broadnax said in a statement he hopes his departure “provides the City Council an opportunity to reset…and will allow for a more effective working relationship with the Mayor and City Council moving forward."
"It has been my distinct honor and privilege to have served as your City Manager for the last seven years. I am proud of what we have accomplished together and grateful for the support I received during my tenure," Broadnax wrote in an email to city staff.
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