Austin’s interim city manager shakes up leadership team after initial organizational review

Interim City Manager Jesús Garza is ushering in a new era of leadership this week.

On Wednesday, his office announced two high-profile departures from city management, as well as four new hirings that Garza billed as “a solid foundation for the future” of Austin’s city leadership team.

The departures include longtime Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano and Jacqueline Yaft, executive director of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Arellano, who was appointed to the position in 2013 and was responsible for overseeing public safety outcomes within the city, announced his retirement. Yaft, who was appointed executive director of the airport in the summer of 2019, will resign.

In the announcement, Garza said, “Rey and Jacqueline have each served this city for several years, and it is important to me that we thank them for their many contributions. I wish them all the best.”

Additions include a special assistant for the city manager, a new interim assistant city manager, a new interim executive director of the airport, and a consultant to oversee the organizational changes, all of whom have prior experience in Austin city leadership positions.

Joe Canales, former deputy city manager, will return as special assistant to Garza. Bruce Mills, former assistant chief of the Austin Police Department, will take over Arellano’s duties as assistant city manager over public safety. Jim Smith, former executive director of ABIA, will return to his old role. And Laura Huffman, another former city manager who recently left her post as head of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, will serve as “a consultant in change management.”

The change-up comes after Garza, who was appointed in the interim capacity after the firing of former City Manager Spencer Cronk, started an organizational review of the city on Feb. 15. As part of that review, he has worked with department leadership to identify areas of immediate need.

“There are many important issues, and I recognize and support the Council’s sense of urgency in meeting our community’s expectations for quality service,” Garza said in the press release. “I am confident that this group of seasoned professionals – who are here on an interim basis – can help deliver on those issues the way the public and Council expects, laying a solid foundation for the future.”

As part of his duties, Arellano was responsible for overseeing the Austin Police Department during a time in which the city struggled to fill officer shortages and implement police reforms, paid out settlements to protesters injured by police during demonstrations, and entered into an extended debate with the Austin Police Association over police oversight.

ABIA released a statement thanking Yaft for her service and welcoming Smith back. “In her time at (ABIA), Ms. Yaft led the airport’s COVID-19 response, launched our Airport Expansion and Development Program, and was instrumental in the airport securing new airlines and nonstop flights.”

The airport has seen a string of public incidents in the recent past, including a near miss in early February in which two planes almost collided on the runway. Also in February, a court ordered the city to pay the owner of the South Terminal $90 million to evict it from the space. The airport decided to demolish the terminal to make room for additional gates, but the contractor had just signed a 30-year lease in 2016.

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