The Daily Sentinel
By NICOLE BRADFORD Staff Writer
August 21, 2023 

​​​​​​​City council members on Friday night selected Leander City Manager Richard “Rick” Beverlin to serve as Nacogdoches’ next city manager.

“He has experience not only from the city management side but in the private sector,” Mayor Randy Johnson said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge to this town as far as economic development, infrastructure and transportation.”

The council emerged from an approximately 15-minute closed session Friday night and voted unanimously to authorize the mayor to negotiate a contract with Beverlin, who was among three finalists interviewed Friday afternoon.

“We had three quality candidates, and it was a shame we couldn’t hire three of them,” Johnson said.

Beverlin is expected to start his new position this fall. 

Earlier Friday, all three candidates attended a public meet-and-greet at the Fredonia Hotel.

Beverlin said he applied for the position in Nacogdoches because it is a “tight-knit, Texas community, which is more rare now than it used to be.”

“With everything becoming one with larger suburbs and connected to metropolitan areas, ya’ll have something special up here,” he said.

A Houston native, Beverlin has served as city manager of Leander since December 2019. Before that, he was assistant city manager in Galveston, where he oversaw development services, public transportation and grant management. He has also served as economic development director in League City, city administrator in Kemah and senior transportation planner for the Houston-Galveston Area Council.

He earned a bachelor of arts in political science from the University of St. Thomas and master of public administration from the University of Houston.

Since the February departure of former city manager Mario Canizares, who accepted a position in North Texas, Fire Chief Keith Kiplinger has served as interim city manager. Kiplinger did not apply for the permanent role.

“For the past 50 years, I’ve known my purpose was to be a firefighter, and it’s never changed,” Kiplinger said.

The three city manager finalists were selected from 25 that met listed qualifications during an in-house search led by the city’s HR director Bonita Hall.

Among them were John E. Calahan, director of institutional effectiveness at Stephen F. Austin State University, and Tim Kelty, city manager of Freeport in Brazoria County.

Kelty, who came to Texas in 2009 from Indiana, has also served as city manager of Henderson.

“So much of what makes Texas special is distilled in Nacogdoches — there’s so much history,” Kelty said.

A native of Nacogdoches, Calahan has spent the past six months as co-chairman of the City of Nacogdoches’ Capital Needs Advisory Committee.

“I grew up in Nacogdoches and the city was fundamental to me being who I am,” Calahan said. “I’m at a point in my life where I want to give back, and this was an opportunity to do that.”

Nicole Bradford’s email is nicole.bradford@dailysentinel.com.