Killeen City Council to discuss appointing assistant city manager

Killeen Daily Herald
By Kevin Limiti | Herald
October 2, 2023

The Killeen City Council will discuss approving a new assistant city manager at its workshop meeting Tuesday, according to the posted agenda.

Laurie Wilson, who has 11 years of experience in government, is being considered for the position, according to the presentation.

Wilson has worked in the city of Carrollton since 2012 and worked her way up to Administrative Services Director as of 2017.

The population of Carrollton is 133,251, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2021. Killeen’s population is close to 160,000, according to a 2022 estimate.

Mayor Debbie Nash-King said Monday she was “extremely excited” about Wilson being considered for the assistant city manager position.

“We need an extra person in the city manager’s office to allow Mr. (Kent) Cagle to focus on the whole city instead of trying to balance department heads, the needs of the council and the residents,” Nash-King said.

The mayor also said the council would look into hiring a second assistant city manager for next year, if the budget allows for it.

In August, the assistant city manager position had 80 applicants from 17 different states.

City Manager Kent Cagle at the time said the salary for an assistant city manager was budgeted at $195,000.

Wilson would be paid $185,000 if she is approved.

The city’s previous assistant city manager, Danielle Singh, was hired at $175,000 annually. She left the city in late May to take the city manager’s post in Jarrell, a fast-growing city between Belton and Georgetown along I-35.

Cagle said Monday that adding a second assistant city manager would have to be a part of the budget process starting in February or March and likely wouldn’t take effect until October 2024.

But he said cities having additional assistant city managers wouldn’t be unusual.

“There’s a lot of cities a lot smaller than us that have two or three assistant city managers,” Cagle said.

He said he hopes that Wilson will be approved as assistant city manager.

“I don’t know why she wouldn’t, but that’s not my decision,” Cagle said.

According to the Strategic Government Resources website, which is the outside company doing the recruiting for assistant city manager, Killeen’s ideal candidate is “a city management generalist with significant knowledge and understanding of the full spectrum of city operations and services.”

The type of experience the city of Killeen is looking for are candidates who have been city managers at smaller municipalities or have been assistant city managers at larger cities.

A bachelor’s degree in business administration, public administration or related degrees is another requirement.

Singh had been with the city of Killeen for the past four years and had been assistant city manager since April 2021.

Singh had started working in the city of Killeen in 2018 as director of public works.

When Cagle and the council picked Singh for the No. 2 spot three years ago, 58 other applicants had submitted resumes for the job. That included some with more city management experience than Singh, including a former Copperas Cove city manager.

In 2021, the city paid more than $14,000 for the nationwide job search.

This year, Cagle said the city of Killeen paid $26,000 to the Strategic Government Resources for the search for a new assistant city manager.

Tuesday’s meeting will take place at 4 p.m., an hour earlier than usual, to give council members time to attend the National Night Out event.

The meeting will take place in the council chambers in City Hall, 101 N. College St., Killeen.

For those unable to attend the meeting in person, it will be web streamed live and archived for playback on the city’s website, KilleenTexas.gov. It will also be broadcast live on Spectrum Cable Channel 10.