By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City council members have selected Shawna Dowell Burkhart as Del Rio’s new city manager.
The council met in a special meeting starting at 9:30 a.m. today to re-interview the three finalists selected on Thursday.
Mayor Al Arreola called the meeting to order and one minute later, announced the council would go into executive session to speak in turn to the three finalists for the city manager position.
The council during a special meeting on Thursday announced the three finalists as Shawna Dowell Burkhart, Blaine Oborn and Randy Robertson.
Two of the finalists, Burkhart and Oborn, were present for today’s special meeting, while Robertson was interviewed via Zoom.
Burkhart and Oborn also participated in an informal meet-and-greet with city department heads and toured some city facilities on Friday.
The council stayed behind closed doors for more than four hours before reconvening in council chambers at City Hall.
After the council returned to open session at 1:59 p.m., Arreola announced no action had been taken while the council was behind closed doors.
“Do we have a motion?” Arreola asked.
The mayor then asked Deputy City Secretary Ana Maria Giraldo to read the resolution pertaining to the appointment of a new city manager.
Giraldo read, “Resolution R:2024-153, a resolution providing for the appointment of a city manager for the city of Del Rio, Texas.”
“Do I have a motion?” Arreola asked.
“I so move, mayor,” Councilman Carmen Gutierrez said. Councilman J.P. Sanchez gave the second.
“Any questions, concerns?” Arreola asked.
City Attorney Ana Markowski Smith then told Giraldo, “Just the specifics. The resolution contains the salary, the name of the appointee and the effective date. Can you read those, please?”
Giraldo then read, “Shawna Dowell Burkhart is hereby appointed as city manager of the city of Del Rio, and the city council approves a salary of $170,000, and the mayor of the city of Del Rio and the interim city manager are hereby authorized to finalize and execute the employment contract.”
“We have a first and a second. Any questions, concerns, comments?” Arreola asked.
Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus said, speaking to Burkhart, who was seated in the audience chairs, “First, welcome, to you and your husband and also thank you to all the people who applied and came in. This was, obviously, several hours, not only for the interviews, but for us to deliberate and go back and forth. It was a tough choice, but we are really confident.”
“Thank you,” Burkhart replied.
“For the mayor’s part, congratulations, welcome aboard, and we’ll see you soon in the city of Del Rio. Hopefully your experience around our community was great, and now you’re going to become a Del Rioan,” Arreola said.
The council then voted unanimously to approve Gutierrez’s motion.
“Unanimous. Let’s rock and roll,” Sanchez called out after the vote.
After she was congratulated personally by the mayor and each council member, Burkhart spoke briefly with The 830 Times.
“I am thrilled to be working with the city of Del Rio. I really do think highly of the department heads, as I’ve just gotten to meet them and see how they work together, their camaraderie. I hope that we can all strive to achieve the goals and objectives of the city council and the city and its citizens and do that in short order. I just want to get started,” Burkhart said.
She said she will be back in Del Rio for the council’s budget meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as for the council first regular meeting in September.
Burkhart said she will be moving to Del Rio from Lago Vista, near Austin, where she currently lives.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
NEWS – Council names three finalists for city manager – 830Times
