Waxahachie City Council appoints city's fire chief as its interim city manager
The Waxahachie City Council unanimously appointed Fire Chief Ricky Boyd as the interim city manager following a special meeting Friday. Boyd has served as the city’s fire chief since November 2012.
His LinkedIn profile describes him as a “strong protective services professional” and notes that he has a bachelor’s degree with a fire science focus from Columbia Southern University. Prior to joining Waxahachie, Boyd served more than 25 years with the city of Irving, where he had attained the rank of assistant fire chief.
Four candidates for the interim spot (three internal and one external) were interviewed during the meeting’s closed executive session, which lasted about seven hours. The action to appoint an interim city manager comes after the council parted ways with former City Manager Michael Scott, who had been with the city of Waxahachie for 22 years, during its meeting Monday, July 7.
After returning to open session during Friday’s meeting, Mayor Billie Wallace expressed her appreciation to the four candidates, whom she described as “willing to step up into this leadership role.”
“I just want to thank the four candidates,” she said. “All four of them did an outstanding job, and it was a really, really tough decision.”
Council member Travis Smith made the motion to appoint Boyd “pursuant to the terms discussed in closed session and authorize the mayor to execute a letter agreement regarding the same.”
After the vote, several council members voiced some comments before the meeting’s adjournment.
“I just want to say none of the things that happened in the last week have been easy,” council member Chris Wright said. “It’s been hard. We’ve got to work really hard and look out for all the decisions that we do that we think are going to be best for the citizens of Waxahachie. It wasn’t easy, and, as a group, we don’t always agree 100% of the time, but when we do, and we speak it all out and discuss and everything else, and are able to do that, we usually come to a consensus.”
Council member Patrick Souter added, “This process just further exemplifies what great people we have working for us and these parts of our city government. And I really do appreciate everybody across the board, but this is, this is hard, but when it’s hard, it means you have good people.”
Wallace briefly spoke on the week’s happenings.
“This was a very, very tough decision for us to make,” Wallace said. “It’s been a tough several few days. We all feel sure that this is the right decision and the decision that we want to go into moving forward. … And last, I just want to say thank you to this council. The leadership that’s been shown in the last few days and tonight, today, has really been profound.”
Wallace concluded her remarks by saying she was proud to serve with the council members
“I’m so proud of this team that I work with,” she said. “And if I had a choice to pick anybody else to serve alongside on this council, I would pick these gentlemen right here. So, thank you, council. I really appreciate your leadership and making the tough decisions in the last few days. You’ve really outshone yourself. Thank you.”
Written by Jo Ann Livingston/In The Know Ellis.
