Dallas City Council questions new city manager search that only named 4 possible candidates
DALLAS - A search firm told Dallas City Council members that their search only generated four strong candidates for the city manager job.
The last Dallas city manager was earning more than $420,000 a year when he left in May. So one would think it is a job that would be enough to attract some qualified candidates.
It was a disappointment to council members who said on Thursday that they expected to see at least 10 qualified candidates for the top job.
According to a memo obtained by FOX 4, the Baker Tilly search firm named four possible candidates:
- Current Dallas Interim City Manager Kimberly Tolbert
- Fort Worth Asst. City Manager William Johnson
- Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington (Michigan)
- DeKalb County COO Zachary Williams (Georgia)
However, council members were expecting more.
"Was this normal or unusual to you that we only ended up with four semifinalists," said Councilmember Kathy Stewart.
"I think it’s usual, but I also understand the high level of scrutiny of a larger community, a very complex organization," said Baker Tilly Director Art Davis. "The issues that were surrounding the city over the last several months may have been a bit of a challenge."
Tilly was alluding to the so-called HERO Amendments.
One of them requires a sharp increase in police hiring. That passed in November.
Another would have tied the city manager's job to a citizen survey. That amendment failed.
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"A number of people that we talked to that were interested," Davis said. "But in final conversations, they decided not to put in their applications."
Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn says if the charter amendments scared off candidates, they were not the right people for the job.
"Understanding that the residents support public safety and the residents want accountability should actually be very desirable for a city manager," she said.
It turns out there were 50 applicants in total, but the council only received the full list on Thursday.
Mendelsohn says there are names on the list she would like to consider.
"We only had 10% Hispanic applicants. I would question that maybe there wasn't further outreach because we have a very large Hispanic population. I would have liked to have seen more candidates that are Hispanic.
"This list of 50 is embarrassing," said Councilmember Adam Bazaldua. "What went wrong during this recruitment process? And why was there not a dialogue through that part of the process to allow us to make sure we are actually getting better candidates?"
What's Next?
The city council committee will hold a special meeting on Monday to receive a presentation about each of the semifinalists.
Some of the details about exactly what will take place on Monday are still being worked out.