What To Know About the Candidates for Dallas City Manager

Dallas has been without a city manager for nearly a year, and although Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert held the fort through Forward Dallas and the November election, it’s probably about time we get someone in the job officially.

The city manager leads all of Dallas’ day-to-day operations, all 15,000 city employees and all of the billions of dollars budgeted annually. Because of Dallas’ weak mayor system, everything you’d normally assume would be handled by a mayor is actually handled by the city manager. That’s why locking one down would be pretty nice.  

Three finalists have been named for Dallas’ top-dog job, and the city will hold several public engagement events this weekend as an “invaluable opportunity” for Dallasites to meet and greet them. Tolbert is one of the three finalists for the gig; she is joined by William Johnson, currently an assistant city manager in Fort Worth, and Mario Lara, an assistant city manager in Sacramento, California. To be clear, this list looks a bit different from the group of four finalists who were announced in November, thanks to a candidate dropping out of the running and the city council taking issue with the recruiting process. 

Meteorologists expect the snow and ice to have melted by the time the events kick off Saturday morning, so you have no excuse not to go and stretch your civic engagement muscles. For your calendar marking convenience, the events will be held:

• Saturday, Jan. 11, 10:00 a.m. – Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.
• Saturday, Jan. 11, 3:00 p.m. – Singing Hills Recreation Center, 6805 Patrol Way
• Sunday, Jan. 12, 1:00 p.m. – Fretz Recreation Center, 6950 Belt Line Road

The Observer pulled together a bit of information about each candidate to offer some context ahead of the meetings. Tolbert, of course, is the finalist we are most familiar with, but we hope to have more insight into Johnson and Lara after this weekend.

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas

Tolbert was named interim Dallas city manager in May 2024, and from the start she seemed to have a plan. Between reorganizing the city’s organizational structure and publishing a clear vision for her first 100 days in the role – for which, 100 days later, she publicly released a progress report – it was clear that Tolbert saw herself as more than capable of stepping into the shoes of her predecessor, T.C. Broadnax. 

And she had some major wins in her trial run, like passing a $5-billion budget and moving to shore up Dallas’ fire and police pension fund. Tolbert also managed to secure a not-contract contract with former Police Chief Eddie Garcia when it appeared competitors were moving in on the man Tolbert described as Dallas’ quarterback. At the time, some believed that reinforcing Garcia’s place in Dallas felt like a win, but it felt much less so after Garcia packed up for Austin just a few months later. 

Before becoming interim city manager, Tolbert was the deputy city manager overseeing Aviation, Communication and Marketing, Water Utilities, Human Resources and the Office of Homeless Solutions. She has also served in several other managerial roles with the city of Dallas and spent 10 years in executive-level roles at the North Texas Tollway Authority. 

Proponents Say: Tolbert is able to run Dallas like the owner of an old, broken down truck goes out for a drive: she knows you have to thump the dash three times to get the AC running and that the back right tire is always leaky. It may be slow going, but she’s certainly dedicated to tuning the ol’ gal up. 

Opponents Say: November’s election was evidence that voters are looking for a shake-up at City Hall, and Tolbert may represent more of the same. While she certainly seems to get along with Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson better than her predecessor did, she is still a product of the Broadnax administration.  

William Johnson, Fort Worth

Johnson served in city government roles in Atlanta and Baltimore before making his way to Fort Worth in 2019. As assistant city manager, he oversees Economic Development, Police, Public Events and the Water Utility. He has also worked extensively in the private sector. In a questionnaire submitted to Baker Tilley, the recruitment firm tasked with reviewing applications for the city manager’s job, Johnson described Dallas as a “tier 1 world class city,” and stated it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be at the helm. 

Johnson’s expertise in public safety certainly seems aligned with Dallas’ own crime-fighting initiatives, and as an events expert he could be an appealing candidate to Mayor Johnson, who wants to bring as many conventions and professional sports teams to Dallas as possible. 

In the Baker Tilley questionnaire, William Johnson noted that, following a stint with the Philadelphia city government in the early 2000s, he found himself wrongfully charged as part of an FBI investigation into the Philadelphia mayor. (The Feds bugged the mayor’s office in a sweeping corruption case that resulted in more than a dozen individuals being charged – it was very The Wire.)

Nonetheless, Johnson had been out of that administration for years and maintained his innocence. He fought the charges at trial and was acquitted. 

“I have since continued with my professional career in public service in Baltimore, Atlanta, and Fort Worth with great success,” Johnson wrote. 

Mario Lara, Sacramento

Lara is a last-minute addition to Dallas’ city manager finalist list; just one month ago, two other candidates were listed with Tolbert and Johnson. The Sacramento assistant city manager emerged from the Baker Tilley fray in late December, after city council members came down hard on the search process and demanded a better look at all the candidates who had applied for the job. 

The Sacramento Bee describes the “lieutenant who longs for Texas” as a capable leader familiar with police, fire and homeless issues. Sacramento, in fact, is now in search of its own city manager, and if Lara hadn’t been so publicly named as a Dallas hopeful, the Bee predicts he would have been a frontrunner for his hometown posting. 

Before assuming the assistant manager role in 2022, Lara held postings in the Riverside, California, city government and with San Bernardino County, specializing in parks and community-oriented roles. Lara’s city of Sacramento biography states that he is an army veteran.