A majority of the City Council voted to appoint Tolbert to the role during a special called meeting last week. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson wasn’t there for the meeting, but he and two other council members expressed some discomfort with the process.
“I am uncomfortable with the time we have taken to process this very important position,” City Council member Paul Ridley said during the meeting Tuesday, according to KERA. “This needed to be a very deliberative process, we needed an opportunity to consider all potential candidates and I don’t think we’ve had the time to do that.”
Dallas City Council member Cara Mendelsohn said she too had a problem with the process. “I am concerned about a rush to name an interim when we should be considering all possibilities systematically, instead of a campaign that is lacking transparency,” Mendelsohn said at the meeting, KERA reported. “There are other internal and external candidates that we haven’t even considered.”
In an emailed statement after the City Council voted to appoint Tolbert, Johnson said the process should have taken more time. “Making this kind of decision is extraordinarily important to the functioning of our city government and should not have been rushed,” Johnson said.
The mayor added that his issue isn't with Tolbert specifically.
“My problem is with this deeply flawed process, not with the person,” Johnson said. “There was no reason we needed to start off this way. These decisions are too important to the future of our city to have been reduced to shameless politicking, maneuvering, and scheming.”
He added: “It sends absolutely the wrong messages to the public and to prospective candidates for this critical job. We should be catering to the people’s best interests, not special interests.”"Let's go ahead and just get it off our plate, make the appointment, let the transition happen amongst staff." – Dallas City Council member Paula Blackmon
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However, Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua told the Observer he was proud to support Tolbert as the interim city manager and that the process to appoint her was fine. “Over the 30 years that she has served our city, she has proven to be the most skilled and experienced person to meet this moment,” Bazaldua said by text. “This decision was in no way rushed. I believe instilling confidence and stability in thousands of residents and city employees was the goal, and we accomplished that goal with Kim’s appointment.”
City Council member Paula Blackmon told the Observer by phone that Tolbert is a good fit for the interim job. "I think it's a good appointment for this time because we needed stability and we needed someone who knows what's going on and carry us, I'm thinking a year, before we get somebody in the permanent role," Blackmon said.
She did not believe the process was rushed. "The timeline, it was OK," she said. "Let's go ahead and just get it off our plate, make the appointment, let the transition happen amongst staff."
Dallas City Council member Gay Donnell Willis said it was clear there was not a critical mass of support around any internal or external candidates. “So why delay when an appointment could convey stability to City employees and residents?” Willis said by text. “I want to see council focus energy on the search for new leadership, which I hope we can have in place by the end of the year.”
Dallas uses a weak-mayor, council-manager model of governing the city, giving the city manager the responsibility to run the city’s day-to-day operations and to prepare the annual city budget. Cities such as Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth, Arlington, Corpus Christi, Plano and Laredo also have council-manager models of governing, making the city manager a looming, powerful position.
In an emailed statement after the vote, Tolbert said she was honored by the City Council’s decision to appoint her in the temporary role. “I remain committed to working in partnership with the council, staff, residents, and businesses, to ensure a seamless and efficient operation of city government during this transition,” she said.
She says prepared to stay laser focused on vital issues to the city, such as the upcoming bond program election, the 2025 budget, and stabilizing the police and fire pensions, adding, “These are complex challenges, but I believe the City Council and staff are stronger together.”
Tolbert will earn more than $360,000 in the interim role.
Broadnax said in an emailed statement that he believes Tolbert is more than qualified, capable and committed to lead the city during the transition to a new city manager. “I am confident she will work in partnership with the City Council and lead our talented and dedicated staff to serve our residents,” he wrote.
Tolbert started working for the city in 1998 as assistant to the city manager and later moved to Dallas’ aviation department, according to The Dallas Morning News. She left for several years to work for the North Texas Tollway Authority. Broadnax then hired her as his chief of staff in 2017, promoting her to her current role in February 2022.
Broadnax’s last day will be June 3.
