Dallas

Dallas City Manager A.C. Gonzalez to Retire in January

Dallas City Manager A.C. Gonzalez has announced plans to retire in January 2017.

Gonzalez informed Mayor Mike Rawlings and members of the City Council of his decision with a letter Monday.

Gonzalez was unanimously appointed as city manager in January 2014, after serving nearly a year as interim city manager following the retirement of longtime city manager Mary Suhm.

The full text of Gonzalez's letter is below:

"Honorable Mayor and Council:

"For almost two decades, I’ve worked as part of the leadership team of Dallas. While I have managed other cities, serving our residents as City Manager for the past few years has been the pinnacle of my career. Dallas is where my heart is and the place I call home. That is why my decision to make a career change in 2017 is not an easy one.

"I am announcing my retirement as City Manager, effective the end of January, 2017. This date is in consideration of the time needed for your selection process, and of the time needed by the incoming City Manager to get a grasp of all City operations and begin work on the 2017/18 City budget.

"As promised when I accepted the position of City Manager, I have given considerable focus to improving the culture, systems and people within our organization. I made critical changes in each of these areas, and the results are measurable. The recently released 2016 City of Dallas Community Survey by ETC Institute shows that overall citizen satisfaction with City services is at an all-time high. In fact, our citizen ratings are 17% higher than the national average for large cities. There is more work to be done, but surely this is an indication that we are heading in the right direction.

"It has been my privilege to serve as City Manager, but there is no question that this is a very tough job with 24/7 demands. I’ve come to a point where I just want my life back. I look forward to spending time with my family and applying my experience to new exciting challenges.

"I wish you and the City of Dallas every success moving forward."

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