Fort Worth city council appoints new city manager, despite controversial process

Fort Worth city council members passed a resolution appointing Jesus "Jay" Chapa as the new city manager, despite concerns surrounding the hiring process.

The vote followed more than an hour of public comment, as well as remarks by city council members, both for and against the move.

Chris Nettles was the lone city council member who voted against the resolution, and Jared Williams abstained from voting.

Both had been vocal about their concerns over the lack of transparency and public input in selecting Chapa as the city's lone finalist, announced last week.

They said their concerns had nothing to do with the candidate himself, solely the city's process.

Nettles and Williams held a press conference on Monday, saying the transparency and public input during the city's search for previous candidates in other roles wasn't applied in this case.

They said in the past, the city has tapped an independent consulting firm to manage the hiring process for important positions—including the police chief.

The process has also typically involved finalists meeting other city leaders, stakeholders, and the public.

This time, they said, that didn’t happen.

The city said they conducted a national search whittled down 150 candidates, and Mayor Mattie Parker told NBC 5 that the in-house search process saved taxpayers up to $200,000.

But neighbors say there was no transparency or public input, which casts doubt on what will happen when that same city manager helps pick a new police chief-- Chief Neil Noakes announced his retirement just one day before the city manager vote.

"Whatever strategy they have to bring a new police chief here to Fort Worth, that makes that city manager's even more important," said Michael Bell, Greater St. Stephen First Church Senior Pastor and leader of Unity in the Community Coalition, an interfaith group.

"The lack of transparency, the lack of plausible explanations, the preponderance of this double-speak in gobbledy-gook that we're hearing, that does not bode well," he added.

Bell said it all erodes the community's confidence.

"They've decided they're gonna push ahead and to hell with everybody else. And that just cannot go unchallenged," he said. "These elected officials, they're not elected by the people to exclude the people. Something's wrong with that dynamic."

Bell and other neighbors joined Nettles and Williams in calling for a pause on Chapa's vote and hiring.

"I don't know who has put a stopwatch on this process so that they have to rush it through. I have no idea, and there has been no explanation," Bell said.

Chapa responds

"I want to thank the city council for their support and their vote, and I think I've shown through my experience in 25 years-- I basically spent my career to get to this level of the position, and so I'm excited about coming in at the end of January and actually moving forward in the job," Chapa told NBC 5 after Tuesday evening's vote.

He said he wasn't privy to the city's hiring process.

"I had no idea of what the process was or what it should have been or not been. I went through the process, I was selected by the majority of the council and it was voted tonight and so I plan to engage the community once I'm actually started the job," he said.

Chapa becomes the first Hispanic city manager for Fort Worth.

"Hopefully, I was chosen because I was the best candidate and I just happened to be Hispanic. Of course, it's a lot of pride being the sixth kid of a single mom from a border town in South Texas and so there's a lot of pride and I think there's a lot of pride in the city that it's actually happened here in Fort Worth," Chapa said.

He also addressed one of his biggest tasks ahead: Hiring the next police chief.

Chapa said he helped choose Chief Neil Noakes, and he's ready to go through that hiring process, again.

"I think it's going to be a collaboration, get an idea of what the city council is looking for," he said. "It's a process and it will be involved, as usually police chief processes are."