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In the end, it was unanimous. Each member of the Dallas City Council voted this morning to hire A.C. Gonzalez as city manager.
Gonzalez, a 15-year veteran at City Hall, has been serving as interim city manager since Mary Suhm stepped down last year. His role in the Uber scandal aside, he never stopped being the odds-on favorite for the job.
His selection, ironically enough, was couched in the rhetoric of change.
Mayor Mike Rawlings, critiquing the City Hall bureaucracy as insufficiently responsive, said that “more rapid strategic significant changes will come if A.C. Gonzalez becomes city manager.
“He has convinced me number one priority is to create more change than we have seen and that we’ve seen from any of the other candidates.”
Gonzalez echoed the “change” theme in brief remarks accepting the job.
“This vote of confidence in me is an indication in your belief that positive change can and will be achieved from within, and I’m confident that we can get started on those changes sooner, not later.”
He will be closely watched by some on the council. Despite their unanimous vote today, the behind-the-scenes contest was much closer, with Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana reportedly falling just one vote shy.
Send your story tips to the author, Eric Nicholson.
