Dallas City Council Members Monday narrowed the field to five finalists from 100 people who applied to replace retiring City Manager A.C. Gonzalez.
Mayor Mike Rawlings said the finalists were invited to Dallas for interviews next week.
“I’m excited about how we’re going to do this,” Rawlings said. “We’re going to interview them once. The citizens are going to get a chance to meet them.”
City Council Member Philip Kingston said members want a replacement chosen before Gonzalez retirement takes effect in January.
“We can’t go fast enough,” Kingston said. “It is the most important job in the city. We’re not getting the service we need right now. The sooner we rectify that, the better.”
Under the Dallas form of government, the Mayor is just one vote in the 15-member City Council.
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The Council hires a City Manager who runs daily operations and hires nearly all the city staff including the Police and Fire Chiefs.
“It’s one of the best cities in the nation and it presents one of the best city management challenges in the nation,” said Kingston. “Only Phoenix and San Antonio are larger that use the same system.”
Gonzalez received a $400,000 a year contract for the chief executive job in a unanimous vote of the Dallas City Council in January 2014, but lost favor with some members since then amid ongoing city problems. He was promoted after serving as an Assistant Dallas City Manager from 1988 to 1995 and again from 2006 to 2014. He announced his retirement in May of this year.
During his time in the top job, Dallas loose dog problems peaked with the death of a woman from a dog attack. Huge East Dallas flood threats remained unchecked after bidding problems with a big project to build a solution.
A New York Times front page article last week said Dallas is flirting with bankruptcy. The Wall Street Journal has also reported on Dallas financial problems.
The city has billions of dollars in unfunded liability from a Police and Firefighter Pension fund and back pay lawsuits. On top of that, Dallas also has billions of dollars in unfunded street and building problems. Dallas bond ratings have been cut, increasing the city’s cost of borrowing.
Southern Methodist University Political Science Professor Cal Jillson is a veteran observer of Dallas City Manager selections.
“The fact that a city has problems is an opportunity for a City Manager,” Jillson said. “We do have a boom town going and that helps a lot. But these long term financial issues are very real and demand resolution and they’ll be hard to resolve.”
Council Member Jennifer Gates said national publicity about the problems did not scare these candidates.
“There’s a lot of other great reasons to come to Dallas. We’re in the middle of a state that’s thriving and a Metroplex that’s thriving,” Gates said. “We have lots of applicants, so we know that there is a desire.”
The finalists include one Dallas City Hall insider and four from outside, but the names were to remain confidential until Tuesday.
“I think the people who want to go outside will be a little bolder and louder this time around,” said Jillson.
Gates declined to say whether she supports an outsider but does expect changes in the way Dallas City Hall is run.
“I do think there’s a still an appetite to do things in a new manner,” Gates said.
Rawlings said he wants a chief executive with strong leadership skills.
“Somebody that is not just waiting there to be an order taker, but has a vision and can pull us together,” Rawlings said.
The mayor said the finalists are diverse but he declined to be specific until names are released.
The city also released a public survey asking for input on the next city manager. The candidates will host a meet and greet Tuesday, Dec. 6 at Dallas City Hall.
Online Survey: https://www.research.net/r/affionpublic
