Cameron Ray, Kim Seider and Cory James have new titles after the Dublin City Council decided in the Monday, March 9 regular meeting to forego a city manager and move the city to a tri-director structure but the directors say it’s mostly business as usual.
All three report to the City Council under the model with defined roles under the new titles.
“For the last year, it’s been a collaborative effort between the three of us,” said Cameron Ray, who has served for the last year as interim city manager as well as Dublin Police Chief. “We know where everybody plugs in and everybody has a say that comes to the table.”
As Director of Public Safety, Ray (who has been with the city approximately 10 years) oversees and coordinates with Dublin PD, Dublin Volunteer Fire Department, EMS (which operates in Dublin but is managed through Erath County after a contract signed last year) and Code Enforcement.
Ray is excited about continuing to collaborate with county emergency services as well as the capable volunteers of the DVFD. “We’ve got great leaders in place and the crews I think are second to none,” said Ray.
“We each bring our own talents,” said City Secretary/Director of Finance Kim Seider (who has served the city for about six years). “Any meeting with any outside developers, it’s been us in that meeting. You will see these three faces at the meetings answering to the city council.”
Under her position, Seider is responsible for financial management, budgeting, administrative services, and oversight of city financial operations.
Director of Infrastructure and Development Cory James has been involved in municipal operations for more than 25 years, many of those with the city of Dublin as Public Works Director. “The benefit is you have three people invested in Dublin,” said James. “It’s been going smooth, and I think it will continue to improve.”
In his position, James is responsible for public works operations, infrastructure planning, development coordination, zoning matters, library operations, airport operations and related services.
The trio admitted to being a little hesitant to the change when the council came to them with the idea, but reflected that it is really continuing the system that’s been in place for a year and playing to their strengths.
“A city manager is going to have a little experience in public works, little experience in finances, little experience in law enforcement,” said Ray. “This puts the duty on the department head that knows the ins and outs and gravity of every situation.”
Since he was in the interim city manager position, Ray admitted the structure is a bit of a step back from his role over the last year. Sitting in the position Ray said he saw many of those duties that could have been consolidated into other areas.
Adopting a tri-director structure means the city will have to update the ordinance established in the 1970s that created the city manager position for Dublin. Ray noted after hearing the council’s proposal, he researched it and found a lot of cities Dublin’s size without a city manager. “There’s more that do have a city manager but there’s a lot that don’t,” Ray said.
The directors said the biggest change is there won’t always be someone routinely in the office as a central figure. However, any city matters or public concerns are now being directed to the department head which would respond and oversee the issue.
Major planning meetings will reportedly still include all three directors since they would all need to be involved, and all three will report directly to the council.
The new titles came with more explicit job duties some of the salary split between the three as compensation. The switch is still reportedly saving the city $56,000. Some of that is going towards the creation of a utility department worker to help provide better services to Dublin residents.
“I’m excited to see how we end on the budget year,” said Seider, noting several other cost-saving measures are being put into place.
All three also said for any community members with questions to reach out. “Our doors are always open,” said Ray.