Interim City Manager Elaine Hart has named Parks and Recreation Department Director Sara Hensley interim assistant city manager upon the retirement of Sue Edwards on March 17. Hart announced Hensley’s promotion, as well as rearrangement of some staffing assignments, in a memo to the mayor and City Council. “As Interim City Manager, I reconfirm that […]
city manager
The city manager oversees the administrative segment of the City of Austin and is one of four Council direct reports.
Posted inCity Hall
Council selects search firm to find new city manager
City Council settled on a firm to conduct the search for a new city manager Thursday following a convoluted and unusual process in which each Council member ranked the three firms competing for the contract. Council ultimately voted 7-4 to award the contract to Russell Reynolds Associates, a global firm that specializes in recruiting high-level […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council could pick manager recruiter next week
After hearing from Human Resources Department Director Joya Hayes at Tuesday’s work session, City Council appears poised to select a firm or firms to move forward with the search for a permanent replacement for former City Manager Marc Ott. Ott left Austin in October to become executive director of the International City Managers Association. Council […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council upends manager search process
City Council on Thursday scrapped the staff-led process for hiring an executive search firm to help find a new city manager, sending the Human Resources and Purchasing Office team off to see if it might put together a new process that would include both public and private sector headhunters. Council members voted unanimously to close […]
Posted inCity Hall
Council questions city manager hiring process
Apparently responding to criticism of the process for selecting a recruiting firm to find a new city manager, some members of City Council indicated that they want staff to move in a new direction during Tuesday’s work session. Choosing from companies that have responded to the city’s request for proposals, a team from the city’s […]
Posted inCity Hall
Critics: Council should aim higher in manager search
Although City Council has yet to see the names of executive search firms that might take on the task of helping it find a new city manager, two prominent critics are already saying the process is getting off on the wrong foot. Those critics include retired Adm. Bob Inman, who served as director of the […]
Posted inCity Council
City Manager’s 2014 compensation becomes issue
Austin City Council Member Bill Spelman took the unusual step of abstaining Thursday on a vote over FY2014 compensation and benefits for City Manager Marc Ott. The move came as tension appears to mount between at least two Council offices and the City Manager. In remarks delivered just before his colleagues voted to approve […]