Search Firm Timeline: Dallas’ New City Manager Could Start by Year’s End

Dallas City Council members came back from the July recess with some big goals: Deal with the ForwardDallas comprehensive land use plan, adopt a balanced budget, lower the property tax rate, and hire a new city manager. 

Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins is acting as the council liaison for the city manager search. As the chair of the council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs, Atkins called a meeting Monday with executive search firm Baker Tilly to see how the process is going and introduce a new timeline.  

But don’t get too excited about the aggressive timeline, Atkins cautioned. It’s not set in stone.

City Hall Roundup: Deadline is Friday For Executive Search Firms Who Want to Find Next Dallas City Manager

Former City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced his resignation in February and is now serving as the top administrator in Austin. Broadnax’s deputy, Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, took over as interim and has not said publicly whether she will seek the permanent role. Some have speculated, however, that Tolbert is auditioning for the part. She has not been passive in her new role, implementing a 100-day plan, restructuring several major departments, and delivering a proposed $5 billion budget. 

The new city manager search timeline, released to the public on Monday, shows that candidate reviews will occur Sept. 16 with “one-way interviews” taking place Sept. 17-25. Finalist selection is anticipated Oct. 9, with city-conducted interviews on Oct. 21, 22, and 23. An offer could be extended to the sole finalist by Oct. 31. 

The timeline is tentative, Atkins repeatedly emphasized, noting that some deadlines already have been missed. Committee members saw the first draft of a recruitment brochure on Monday; the timeline slated it for approval on Aug. 1. 

City officials previously speculated that they might wait until after the May 2025 municipal elections to bring in a new manager, so the timeline surprised some council members. However, Atkins addressed the search process this week as though it has been thorough and methodical.  

“To do a search for the city manager, it takes time,” Atkins said Monday. “You just can’t rush the search completely without going through different exercises.” 

Hiring a Dallas City Manager

Thousands of surveys were issued to residents and employees about the city manager search, the results of which have been reviewed by consultants but not the full council. About 450 city employees and 2,100 residents responded, Baker Tilly officials said at Monday’s meeting. 

There appeared to be a power struggle among council members who are not on the ad hoc committee but would like to be involved in the process of hiring the city manager. After all, the manager reports to the City Council along with the city auditor, city attorney, and city secretary. 

The ad hoc committee makes a recommendation but the full council will hire the city manager, a representative from the City Attorney’s Office explained in Monday’s meeting. 

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“It’s obviously one of the biggest decisions any city council has to decide on,” said committee member Jesse Moreno. “Public engagement is key, so I want to make sure that … council, resident, and employee feedback has been captured and incorporated accurately.” 

Councilwoman Jaynie Schultz, who is not a member of the ad hoc committee, asked that future committee meetings be scheduled so the full council can participate. 

“I’m agreeing … It could take two months, three months, y’all could slow roll this as long as you want,” Schultz said. “All I’m saying is that if we set a deadline by which the public and the rest of the council could have some expectations understood, it would be greatly appreciated.”

The councilwoman added that she didn’t have any information about how the survey was crafted or what questions it asked. Atkins said the committee didn’t have anything to do with the surveys. Schultz suggested that the full council should be able to interview the finalists. Councilman Paul Ridley appeared to agree that the full council should be involved in interviews. 

Atkins again said changes can be made to the process. The schedule is just a draft and will be updated once the brochure is approved. 

The ad hoc committee agreed to meet again in about a week to revisit the search. 

“We just finished the charter and we’ve got the budget,” Atkins said. “We’ve got a whole lot of town hall meetings. We’ve got a whole lot of input from residents about the budget. I don’t want this to become a political issue … Let’s do it the proper way and the right way. I want to make sure it’s transparent to everybody.”