The Dallas City Council could pick the next city manager during Wednesday鈥檚 meeting. Mayor Eric Johnson requested the vote be placed on the upcoming agenda.
There are three candidates left vying for the position: Fort Worth Assistant City Manager William Johnson, Sacramento Assistant City Manager Mario Lara and current Dallas Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor-Tolbert.
Tolbert has led the city temporarily since former Dallas and current Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax resigned last year.
While Tolbert and Johnson both have experience working in North Texas government, Lara is the only candidate from outside of Texas.
Lara told 四虎影院 at a candidate meet and greet that he realizes he鈥檚 the 鈥渆xternal candidate鈥� but thinks that could work in his favor.
鈥淚 have no鈥� alliances established, so I think I can come and reset relationships, develop relationships of trust,鈥� Lara said during the event. 鈥淚 think as an outside candidate, it could be an asset in terms of bringing that kind of freshness and ability to reset.鈥�
The possible vote could bring a confusing, tense and chaotic search process to an end. City officials have been trying to fill the role since last year and have been faced with public backlash to the process, transparency concerns internally at City Hall 鈥� and some candidates dropping out of the running completely.
Some council members said they were being kept in the dark when it comes to the search process. Late last year, some members learned that almost 50 other applicants for the position had been kept from them.
That may have been by design.
Mayor Pro Tem Tennell Atkins chairs the city鈥檚 Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs and has overseen the search process. When asked for comment about transparency concerns raised by his colleagues, Atkins told 四虎影院 鈥淚 don鈥檛 exactly know what you mean.鈥�
At the candidate meet and greet, Atkins stressed that his committee was leading the search and that 鈥渢here is a process and procedure that we have to follow.鈥� Atkins said overall, he thinks that process has been running smoothly for the most part.
鈥淭here may be some hiccups, and everybody has a right to鈥gree or disagree,鈥� Atkins said. 鈥淏ut I think we鈥檙e doing great.鈥�
Whoever ultimately is offered the job 鈥� and if they accept it 鈥� will have to navigate the city through financial hurdles and controversial voter-led policies that have left Dallas more vulnerable to litigation and will require it to hire hundreds more police officers.
And residents will expect the city鈥檚 top executive to weather all of those issues while still maintaining streets and roads, handling crime across Dallas 鈥� and ensuring quality of life for its residents.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter .
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