City Manager of Yoakum fired

Kevin Coleman
Contributed Photo

Victoria Advocate
By Tyrese Boone | tboone@vicad.com
August 9, 2023

Yoakum’s city manager was fired by the city council Tuesday night.

Kevin Coleman was notified of his firing during an executive session at the City Council meeting.

Yoakum’s Mayor Carl O’Neil said the move has been in the works for the last three months. He said there was a possibility Coleman knew he would be let go because he did not see eye to eye on management styles.

“We’re going in a different direction and I think it was the right time for a change,” O’Neil said Wednesday. “We appreciate his service and we’re looking forward.” he said.

The mayor declined to go into further detail.

The action ends Coleman’s 12-year stint with the city.

The search for a new city manager is in the works. The city plans to fill the position in the next three to six months, O’Neil said.

Until then, the newly appointed Director of Finance Debbie Gray will be in charge of the fiscal budget for next year.

O’Neil said he will be involved in more day-to-day activities with paperwork and the administration while the search is underway.

“We’ll be depending on our own department heads to pick up the slack for now,” he said.

Coleman said he was surprised by the move and felt that his work with the City of Yoakum is not done.

“I feel that I’m still the right person for this job at this time,” Coleman said Wednesday.

“Yoakum’s got a lot going on. We’ve been blessed with grants to put projects in the works. I thought we were doing a great job with those projects,” he said.

He believes that his 12 years with the city were well spent. He expressed his appreciation of the impact the staff made on the community. He will look into more opportunities to continue his line of work.

“While I will not be a part of seeing the process moving forward, I am pretty proud of the leadership I have provided the city over that period,” he said.
 

Tyrese Boone is the local government and public safety reporter for the Victoria Advocate. Tyrese is a recent digital and print graduate from the University of North Texas. He may be reached at tboone@vicad.com or text 940-765-6859.