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Dallas city structure is strong. City manager should be, too

The Dallas City Council is currently engaged in its most important personnel responsibility: selecting a manager to lead the nation’s ninth-largest city and the largest using the council-manager form of government.
The task is daunting due to the variety of skills and character qualities that the successful candidate must possess. But before exploring those attributes, one thing needs to be clear: Dallas thrives economically, culturally and environmentally because of its form of government.
A comparison of Dallas with Houston’s mayor-council form of government (where a career politician rather than a professional executive is at the helm) illustrates the point. On every score, Dallas ranks superior to Houston: lower average unemployment, higher average household income, higher GDP, lower crime rate and a higher quality of life.
In its May 2024 report, PropertyClub, an online real estate platform for marketing, buying, renting and investing in real estate, concluded, “Dallas ranks higher [than Houston] in several key metrics, such as safety, employment opportunity and transportation, which gives it a slightly higher quality of life. … When compared side by side, Dallas is the clear winner.”
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That leads to the critical question of the qualities that the new chief executive should possess to sustain Dallas’ trajectory. From observing previous Dallas city managers, several qualities stand out.
First, possessing a firm grip on the city’s budget is a recurring necessity. Like in all cities, the Dallas budget takes on a life of its own if the top person does not take a firm grip on spending. That includes finding solutions when deficits emerge.
Second, a recurring quality has been an eye for talent, especially for those with an ability to find solutions to complex issues. T.C. Broadnax was particularly gifted in this area. This skill shows in the top executives who were quickly recruited, or nearly recruited in the case of Dallas Police Chief Eddie García, by other cities after Broadnax announced his departure. These include former Dallas assistant city managers Majed al-Ghafry, now city manager of DeSoto, and Robet Perez, now city manager of Topeka, Kan.
Third, like a good athletic team, mastering the basics is fundamental to creating success. For Dallas, those basics are high-performing city services: public safety (police, fire and emergency management), parks and recreation, code enforcement, cultural services (libraries, museums and the arts), aviation and utilities among a host of other services.
Fourth, among the nation’s largest cities, Dallas is unusually successful in its use of tax increment financing as an economic development tool. TIF districts are the backbone of the city’s economic development strategy. For the new manager, knowing what not to fix is sage wisdom.
Finally, and of paramount importance, is the manager’s capacity to build support for policy choices with the city council. In the council-manager form of government, this begins with the mayor who, as presiding officer of the council, must take the lead in building consensus. The council-manager form works best when the mayor’s agenda aligns with that of the manager in shaping policies that win the support of the council, ideally culminating in its unanimous support.
That leaves one other question: Should the council hire from within the city or seek an outside candidate? The obvious answer is that it should hire the candidate who best meets the city’s leadership needs regardless of whether from within or without.
Outside candidates have several advantages: Fresh ideas and initiatives, no baggage in their relationship with the council, a honeymoon during which bold ideas are floated, and bringing on board new talent to the executive cabinet.
The big drawback is the council never really knows what it is getting in the hire until six months into the job. By then, alignments on the council have been formed, making it more difficult to make a change.
That is the advantage of hiring from within. The council knows what they are getting in the way of a leader: their dynamism, energy, organizational savvy and fiscal prudence. And an internal hire can hit the ground running. No easing into the job that comes with a new hire.
Although several top executives have left, a strong pool of talent remains in the executive ranks of Dallas City Hall. The City Council would be well advised to consider a broad pool of candidates, including any from within the city.
The critically important task of hiring a city manager provides the Dallas City Council with the opportunity to mobilize City Hall with energy and visionary leadership. The selection of past chief executives provides compelling evidence that this council is up to that task.
Robert Bland is a professor of local government at the University of North Texas. He is an honorary member of the International City/County Management Association and a fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration.
Part of our Leading Dallas opinion series, this essay from an expert in city government offers five qualities Dallas must look for in its next city manager.
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