In a brief but decisive meeting on Monday, Jan. 6, the Liberty City Council voted to name Brian Kendrick as the new city manager. The meeting, held at 5 p.m., capped off a full day of interviews and city tours with the two finalists for the position.
Earlier in the day, council members spent time introducing the candidates to key locations around Liberty. The morning was dedicated to the first finalist, while the afternoon featured the second candidate. By the time the council convened for its evening session, Kendrick had emerged as the lead choice.
The selection process took only a few minutes, ending with a unanimous decision to name Kendrick as the lone finalist and extend him the offer. Mayor John Hebert Jr. emphasized the council’s urgency to find a replacement before the current city manager, Tom Warner, retires in April.
“We think he will be a great fit for Liberty, and I think the employees and the citizens will be very pleased with our choice,” said Hebert. “It was a tough decision between two very qualified candidates, but Kendrick stood out. During the vetting process, his peers and employees had nothing but glowing praise for him.”
Hebert added that Warner has been gracious in his offer to work with the new city manager until he gets up to speed on city operations.
“Tom’s been very gracious about this whole thing. It’s gonna be a good transition. We never had to get an interim city manager and that was worth its weight in gold,” Hebert said.
As the Liberty Community Development Corporation – the city’s economic development arm – has a vested interest in a good working relationship with a city manager, LCDC Board President Barbara Norwood, a local attorney, was invited to participate in the interview process, along with attorney Bruce Mintz, who is the executive director of the Sam Rayburn Municipal Power Agency (SRMPA).
“They are both going to be working with this man, and I value their input and experience, so we brought them in. They didn’t get a vote, obviously, but they got to give us their opinions,” Hebert said.
Hebert said his goals for the new city manager are to continue building on goals as directed by council.
Kendrick currently is the Director of Human Resources and Risk Management for the City of San Angelo, Texas. He just celebrated his 16th work anniversary with the City of San Angelo. In this position, he currently manages an almost $20 million budget directly under his purview, Kendrick said. After living for many years in West Texas, he is looking forward to the change in climates of Liberty County, even though that means he will be experiencing a lot more rain like is seen in Southeast Texas.
“I love the idea of being part of a smaller community,” Kendrick said, adding that he arrived in Liberty, Texas, prior to the interviews, just before this week’s stormy weather. “I got here in the midst of it, which was unfortunate, because I didn’t get to do as much as I wanted, such as just looking around the city, but I did get an opportunity after the rain stopped to walk around downtown and to grab a burger at Jax. I think Liberty has so much charm and identity. It has so much historical significance and I am a bit of a history buff, so the more I researched the city, the more I fell in love with it.”
He joked that he expects he will “geek out” when he gets to spend more time at the Sam Houston Center in Liberty once he gets moved to Liberty. He and his wife, Librata, have two sons – one who is married and the youngest, 21, will be moving with them to Liberty. He said the whole family is excited to begin their new lives in Liberty.
While working for the City of San Angelo, he also worked in finance and as a city clerk. The last six years have been as Director of Human Resources. Prior to San Angelo, he worked for the City of Dallas for two years in financial services. Before that, he spent 12 years in retail management.
He said that public service runs in his family as his father was a water superintendent and his mother was a city clerk. His brothers – one is a retired police officer now and the other works in public works.
“The love of public service was translated to me by my father and brothers. I also had an uncle who was a tax assessor collector and my grandfather built the roads around Lubbock County in his lifetime,” he said.
As for his start date with the City of Liberty, Kendrick expects to be in place by mid to late-February or early March, just as soon as he can fulfill his requirements with his current job and move.