Five candidates for Dallas City Manager opening

A search committee is down to five candidates in the hunt for a new Dallas City Manager.

The candidates are in the process of being formally notified and a list of their names should be public on
Tuesday. The city paid search firm Affion Public about $30,000 to look for suitable candidates.   

Whoever takes over will have some major challenges moving forward -- like hiring a new police chief and the police-fire pension fund crisis.

There were five good candidates in the pool, but Councilman Philip Kingston said the city chose not to interview them.

“I think somebody would want this job because it's one of the best cities in the nation and it presents one of the biggest city management challenges in this nation,” said Kingston, who is on the search committee. “In terms of the size of Dallas in its form of government where the city manager is the true CEO -- only Phoenix and San Antonio are larger and use the same system.”

The goal is to have someone in place when current city manager AC Gonzalez retires in January. Gonzales was making $400,000a year and the new hire’s salary is expected to be in that range.

There is one internal candidate -- Mark McDaniel, an assistant city attorney.

Dallas residents can meet the candidates for city manager from 6 - 8 p.m. on Tuesday Dec. 6 at Dallas City Hall.

Residents can also fill out an online survey to help with the selection: https://www.research.net/r/affionpublic