Where Dallas leaders stand on the search for a new city manager and police chief: "They're not going to rush"
DALLAS — It's been seven months since former Dallas city manager T.C. Broadnax announced his resignation.
At its last meeting, the committee tasked with finding his successor was still debating the brochure intended to attract candidates.
Since Broadnax's departure, Dallas has also lost two assistant city managers, a deputy city manager and a chief of staff, with the last two following their former boss to Austin.
Now the city is also losing its popular police chief with Eddie Garcia's announcement Thursday that he's headed to Austin.
"I think there's definitely a state of change going on right now, but it's not unprecedented," said Scott Goldstein, a strategic communications consultant who worked for former Mayor Mike Rawlings during the last search for a city manager.
Goldstein said the process is going as expected.
"Mayor Pro Tem Atkins has kind of been the visible leader in coalescing the council," Goldstein said. "And you know, from what he said, they're not going to rush. They're going to make sure they make the right decision and do it the right way."
CBS News Texas looked back to see how long the city took to hire previous city managers.
Broadnax was offered the job seven months after his predecessor, AC Gonzalez announced plans to retire. Gonzalez, in turn, took eight months to hire. Mary Suhm, before him, took a full year.
Recent police chiefs took between 3 to 9 months to get the gig. Without a city manager in place, though, it could take longer.
"It'll probably be that the city manager's hired first," Goldstein said. "That being said, with Chief Garcia leaving relatively soon, it's going to be a really important decision for interim city manager Tolbert to hire an interim police chief."
The city of Dallas has yet to announce when Garcia's last day will be, but it is likely to be soon. He's set to begin his new job in Austin on Nov. 4.
