Denton police chief to step down for job in city manager's office

Frank Dixon, Denton’s police chief since 2018, accepted a job in the Denton city manager’s office Friday and plans to step down as the city’s top cop.

That departure will wait, however, until his replacement within the Denton Police Department is finalized later this year.

City officials announced Monday afternoon that both Dixon and Christine Taylor, director of procurement and strategic services, were offered the roles of assistant city manager this past Friday.

A total of five internal candidates applied for the two assistant city manager slots. The other candidates who applied were:

• Director of Solid Waste Brian Boerner
• Director of Capital Projects and City Engineer Rebecca Diviney
• Director of Human Resources Tiffany Thomson

City Manager Sara Hensley said two panels made up of city employees and administrators helped guide her in selecting Dixon and Taylor.

“I couldn’t have gone wrong with any of them,” Hensley said. “But I trust the people on the panels who gave me feedback.”

Dixon was first hired by the city in October 2018 after Denton’s national search for a new police chief. He was named interim assistant city manager in February 2021 after the departure of former City Manager Todd Hileman and the ensuing administrative shuffle.

He announced at the time that day-to-day operations within the Police Department would be handled by Assistant Police Chief Bobby Smith. But Dixon maintained his job as chief of police while split between the two jobs.

Dixon has decades of experience in law enforcement and served in the Marine Corps. He said he hadn’t considered transitioning over to the city manager’s office until he was offered the interim assistant city manager job this past year, but it’s something that had been on his mind more recently.

“It was something I started thinking about, and through the application process, it started looking more and more like a possible reality,” Dixon said late Monday afternoon. “When the offer was extended to me, I was very humbled and honored to be in a position to accept it.”

Dixon will continue to oversee fire, police, the 911 center and facilities management as assistant city manager, Hensley said.

She said she expects the search for a new police chief to stretch until at least July. That includes contracting with a search firm, a nationwide search stretching at least three months, and then final interviews.

“I’m hoping no later than April — the first few weeks of April — that we begin the search,” Hensley said.

She said Dixon will be important in the process of helping to select his successor.

Dixon, when asked who he would like to replace him as chief, said he has an idea for the type of person who would be right for the job.

“I definitely want to make sure they hire someone that shares the same vision that I have, that shares the same passion to serve the community,” he said.

That includes someone who is open and honest and preferably has experience working in civil services and/or municipal governments.

Some of those qualities were what Hensley said drew her to Dixon for the assistant city managership, as well as the fact that they worked together when they were both with the city of Austin.

She said Dixon’s ability to work well with others and build relationships across the community are valuable assets to have working on the city’s behalf.

As for Taylor, Hensley said it was her special focus on solving problems that secured her the job. Hensley said Taylor had been the person who sat down and worked through the issues that arose when the city worked with developers or any other entities.

She described Taylor as a team player who has earned her colleagues’ support.

Filling two more spots previously filled by interims means Hensley is two steps closer to achieving a promise she made to the Denton City Council when she was herself elevated from an interim position earlier this month.

“In accepting the role of City Manager, I shared with the Directors and City Council that one of my first goals would be to quickly fill a number of interim positions in the City,” Hensley wrote in a letter to city officials announcing her appointments Monday. “While those interim staff members executed their responsibilities excellently, the need to permanently appoint leaders in these positions is an important step as we move forward as an organization.”

She has maintained that having leaders serve in an interim capacity for extended periods of time is a detriment for city staffers. One of her first moves as full city manager was to confirm David Gaines as the city’s deputy city manager.

“I’m hopeful that now people will know stability, and we’ll be able to move forward with these folks, who I have the utmost faith in,” Hensley said Monday.