The city of Dallas hasn’t had a permanent city manager in almost a year. Kimberly Bizor Tolbert’s recent appointment to the position full time comes at a time when the city faces unprecedented issues at the local, state and federal level.
Those issues include a slate of controversial city charter amendments passed by Dallas voters last year, financial hurdles and questions around federal spending initiatives under President Donald Trump’s administration.
A recent Trump executive order — and its quick restriction by a federal judge — has left many cities like Dallas, with questions over grants and funds from Washington D.C.
There are also several vacant executive positions inside City Hall — that includes the police and fire chiefs.
But Tolbert may have an advantage.
She has run the city since last May when former Dallas and current Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax resigned.
She was at the helm during the city charter election last year when – what some officials have called – a rogue group of conservatives ran a campaign urging voters to pass three amendments aimed at City Hall reforms.
And Tolbert will have to navigate Dallas through the consequences of those amendments. That could mean reevaluating the city’s budget and seeking out more legal advice for potential lawsuits under one of the new policies.
The biggest hurdle could be hiring almost 900 more police officers — a mandate approved by Dallas voters last year. The city could have a new police chief soon.
That's after Tolbert announced a national search to find the right candidate in late January.
While elected officials have said hiring the right city manager is the key to success, the process getting to this point has been chaotic and confusing.
The process was conducted by a firm hired by the city. But those discussion over applicants were largely held behind closed doors.
Transparency was such a concern for some Dallas city council members, that when they found out almost 50 other applicants for the role were kept from them until late last year, elected officials split into two different factions.
Multiple meetings were scheduled by the two groups butting heads. One of those meetings never happened because a majority of council members skipped it.
“We just wanted the ability to discuss with our colleagues our concerns and hear from them and have them hear from us,” District 14 Council Member Gay Donnell Willis said at the time. “We were ready to interview, informally, virtually, three of the semifinalist candidates.”
The other meeting was held almost entirely behind closed doors.
Its unclear what other city manager applicants thought of the process — but at least two finalists dropped out of the running before the decision was made.
In mid-January, months after the search process began, members of the public were offered the chance to interact with the three candidates vying for the role.
Tolbert seemed poised to get the gig throughout the process. She’s been in and around Dallas City Hall since the early 2000s — and has held positions in other North Texas governmental agencies.
However, it was clear that some council members didn’t agree with Tolbert’s appointment. District 12 Council Member Cara Mendelsohn and District 14 Council Member Paul Ridley were the only officials to vote against offering Tolbert the job.
“When I think about the decision of hiring a city manager, I see department after department that is in need of significant reform, modernization and efficiency,” Mendelsohn said during the a late-January council meeting. “I wonder why small projects, like digital kiosks and city branding, are prioritized over our city’s most urgent needs.”
Mendelsohn said Dallas is a city with “extraordinary promise” but said changes in executive management was needed to bring that promise to fruition.
Ridley said he couldn’t “hold my thoughts and concerns about the contract that the council has negotiated with the city manager.”
He said he wasn’t comfortable with what he called a “golden parachute” in the contract, if the city manager is fired for any reason.
It didn’t stop the other 12 council members and Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson to offer Tolbert the job anyway.
And while she was appointed by the current council, Tolbert may have to answer to a significantly different slate of elected officials after the general election in early May.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
