The Dallas City Council committee responsible for handling the search for its next city manager, named three semifinalists Monday.
The Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs advanced current Dallas interim city manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Fort Worth assistant city manager William Johnson and Sacramento assistant city manager Mario Lara.
Mayor pro tem Tennell Atkins, who chairs the committee, said all three candidates will be in town next month to meet with community members to gather public input.
According to the most updated published hiring timeline, the community meetings will take place the second weekend of the new year on Jan. 11 and 12.
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On-site interviews would follow on Monday, January 13, with a recommendation from the committee to the full council to take hiring action two days later.
“We always said that we’d have the selection of the city in the latter part of December, first part of January, so we’re still on that timeline," Atkins said. "It’s very open, it’s very transparent."
The announcement of three named candidates comes one week after three city council members called a special meeting to draw attention to a hiring process some considered too long and one that lacked clarity for council members not on the committee.
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The city council meeting on Dec. 16 failed to materialize due to not enough members of the council showing up.
Two previously announced semifinalists provided by the city-hired search firm Baker Tilly announced last week they had removed their names from consideration.
Atkins says he is excited about the three remaining.
''If they really want this job, they stayed in,'' Atkins said. ''So, the ones who really said ‘Dallas is the place to be’, we have those there.”
