The three finalists are interim city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Fort Worth Assistant City Manager Mario Lara and Sacramento Assistant City Manager Mario Lara.
DALLAS — The Dallas City Council Wednesday will interview the three finalists for the city manager job Wednesday following meet-and-greets over the weekend.
The three finalists are interim city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Fort Worth Assistant City Manager Mario Lara and Sacramento Assistant City Manager Mario Lara.
The candidates made their pitches for why they believed they were the best candidate for the job during three meet-and-greet sessions this past weekend.
The next city manager will be tasked with overseeing Dallas’ $5 billion budget, hiring permanent police and fire chiefs, and managing departments responsible for road repairs and park maintenance. The position became vacant after former City Manager T.C. Broadnax left to become Austin’s city manager earlier this year.
The city manager search has been contentious with infighting between city council members. Some city council members have criticized the length of the search process. An initial timeline projected finishing the process by the end of 2024, while others have questioned whether the semifinalists put forth by the company conducting the search, Baker Tilly, were the strongest possible candidates.
Among the candidates, Tolbert has emerged as a frontrunner, securing endorsements from multiple organizations including the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, the Black Fire Fighters Association of Dallas, the Dallas Hispanic Firefighters Association and the Dallas NAACP.
The finalist pool narrowed from four to three after Mark Washington, an assistant city manager in Grand Rapids, Michigan, withdrew from consideration. Zachary Williams, a county manager in Georgia, was also previously in contention but is no longer among the candidates.
The search has also been complicated by recent developments in Dallas city governance. Art Davis, a director with Baker Tilly, the firm conducting the search, recently reported that some candidates expressed concerns about recently passed city charter amendments. These include requirements to hire 900 more police officers and allocate half of the city’s new revenue to improving police and fire pensions. Following these amendments, Moody’s downgraded Dallas’ economic outlook from stable to negative.