Tuesday’s appointment of Kimberly Tolbert to the post of interim city manager in Dallas has continued to prompt accusations of impropriety.
Local real estate blogger, Forbes columnist, and former Dallas City Council candidate Candace Evans seemed to weigh in on the appointment Wednesday morning, sharing a post by X user @Johnyalamo, who previously accused Dallas City Council members of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act by arranging for City Manager T.C. Broadnax’s resignation behind closed doors.
By doing so, the council members enabled Broadnax to receive a severance of more than $423,000 — the amount equal to his annual salary — because his resignation purportedly met the criteria for involuntary separation, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“Here’s the thing,” @Johnyalamo posted. “It’s perfectly understandable to want the entire council (to) have a say on the process of selecting a new city manager. If today’s meeting was the very first meeting, nobody would have a problem with that. But this is the THIRD meeting. The FIRST one was secret, for which we will have no record of what transpired, the SECOND @CityofDallas was an official committee meeting led by five appointed council members.”
“Now the call is for, what should’ve happened from the very beginning. But when the secret group saw they were getting out maneuvered, their only move was just made and called for what happened today with @AdamBazaldua’s first motion that passed,” @Johnyalamo added. “Panicky, rushed, sloppy, and disingenuous governance to ALL of Dallas citizens due to faction led council members. We deserve better!”
In sharing that post, Evans wrote that the council members’ actions were a “textbook example of what stinks at City Hall. Realize a mob just selected the Interim City Mgr.”
@Johnyalamo has shared multiple stories from Dallas-area media, including The Dallas Express, about Tolbert’s appointment, how council members arrived at their decision, and the Ad Hoc Administrative Affairs Committee’s preliminary discussions on how the search for Broadnax’s successor should be conducted.
Tolbert was appointed during a special meeting on Tuesday, with Council Members Paul Ridley (District 14) and Cara Mendelsohn (District 12) voting against it. Both questioned why other candidates were not considered for interim city manager.
The Dallas Express has filed a Texas Public Information Act request for all communications between council members and Broadnax, Johnson, and Tolbert since February 1 to determine the extent to which they deliberated Broadnax’s termination and Tolbert’s appointment in private.
