JOHNSON

by KAY RICHTER

Friction over the ongoing search process for the new city manager sparked disagreement at a special Kyle City Council meeting on Tuesday.

The controversy stems from the role of a council-appointed committee charged with preliminary evaluations of the 76 applications for the municipal government’s top administrative job.

Mayor Lucy Johnson began the meeting by reading a statement in which she said the committee changed its plans for making recommendations to the council last week, a day after Councilmembers David Wilson and Jaime Sanchez said the group would forward the top 10 applicants to the council for further consideration.

“I do not believe the council had any expectation that the committee would change their procedures within 24 hours of describing them to us, let alone move toward interviews without consulting the council as to their new plans,” Johnson said. “…I sincerely apologize to any of you who thought I alone was trying to take control of this committee after last Wednesday night’s committee meeting.”

She went on to deny that she had lobbied members of the committee – which also includes city employees Kerry Urbanowicz and Mario Perez – to change their scores for certain applicants.

Wilson then mounted a spirited defense of the committee’s handling of the search process, saying the group has not substantially altered how it told the council it would go about winnowing the applicant pool.

“I’ve heard rumors that we have changed that process, that we are doing this and that. Allegations both oblique and direct have been flying around which absolutely undercuts the hard work” the committee is doing, Wilson said. “I know this is a fun political football for some [but] this is serious business. This is no game.”

He continued, “In the end, our very, very best candidate is what we need for the city of Kyle. We have major challenges. We can’t select anything but the best.”

WILSON

The council eventually voted 5-2 to interview not only the top seven applicants as identified by the committee but the second tier of seven applicants as well. Sanchez and Councilmember Brad Pickett cast the dissenting votes.

“We need to make sure going forward that we are going to instruct the committees and then get out of the way, whether we think they are doing it right or not, once we form that committee that is not really our burden,” Pickett said.

It also emerged during the discussion that Interim City Manager James Earp is not among the top seven candidates identified by the committee, although he is apparently in the second tier of candidates for which the council voted to grant interviews.

A contingent of Earp supporters asked the council to at least grant him an interview during remarks made during the meeting’s public comment portion.

The city manager’s position has been vacant in Kyle since the council accepted Tom Mattis’ resignation in April. A few weeks later, they named Earp interim manager.