Been busy with work. Steve is a great guy and will make a great City Manager in my opinion. He does have big shoes to fill.
KELLER — The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to promote Steve Polasek to city manager, replacing Dan O’Leary, who laid himself off last month.
The council’s vote directed the city attorney to draw up a contract for Polasek, now an assistant city manager and the sole candidate to replace O’Leary, whose last day is Friday.
Council members voted April 10 in a specially called session to appoint Polasek interim city manager.
Polasek has worked in city government since 1992. While in Keller, he has overseen the departments of parks and recreation, human resources, finance, administration and information services, as well as the Keller Public Library. Polasek also coordinates the public arts program and the city’s trash and recycling.
O’Leary spent most of his last meeting giving a presentation on adding $1.2 million in expenditures to the 2011-12 budget to pay for additional needs not identified when the original budget was adopted in September.
According to financial projections, the general fund balance — $7.8 million — is high enough to pay for the proposed items, he said.
“One of the goals that council has set for the fund balance is that we never want to be below 16 percent, or 60 days of operating expenses,” he said. “With this change we will still be well above our minimum financial policy goal.”
The largest part of the amendment is $765,000 to replace the radio and dispatch portion of the city’s 800-megahertz radio system, which will soon be obsolete because of federal rebanding.
Other expenditures include $50,000 to pay one-third of the cost of a traffic signal at Westport Parkway and U.S. 377. Tarrant County and Westlake will each pay one-third of the $150,000 to build the signal, which is not in the Keller city limits but is necessary to initiate a future railroad “quiet zone.”
The funds will also cover an economic development study related to meeting and lodging facilities, Old Town Keller lighting improvements, a Town Hall use study, and a business review and operational audit for The Keller Pointe.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/04/17/3892098/keller-will-remove-interim-tag.html#storylink=cpy
