A panel on Thursday questioned the length of the search for Dallas’ next city manager, an uncertain timeline for a hire, along with the number of applicants.

Dallas started its search for a new city manager in August, four months after T.C. Broadnax left the job for the same position in Austin.

The five-member Ad Hoc Committee on Administrative Affairs has been tasked with handling the hiring of a consultant to conduct a national search and help the 15-member Dallas City Council narrow the field of qualified candidates.

Councilmember Tennell Atkins, chairman of the committee, told colleagues the process of reviewing four semifinalists presented by consultant Baker Tilly started in earnest on Thursday.

“The committee has not said what we thought because we have not reviewed it,” Atkins said.

The committee met for the first time since the names of the semifinalists were made public in mid-November.

The semifinalists include William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth, Dallas interim city manager Kim Tolbert, Grand Rapids, Michigan city manager Mark Washington and Zach Williams, a chief operating officer in DeKalb County, Georgia.

While the committee didn’t question the qualifications of the four semifinalists Thursday, it did criticize its consultant for what councilmember Jesse Moreno characterized as a required missed step of allowing the committee to narrow the field.  

“Where did we miss that 10 to 15 semifinalists for council committee review,” Moreno asked.

Art Davis, a director with Baker Tilly, told the committee that 50 candidates applied for the job.

“We sent you what we thought were the best candidates because we were working to meet a deadline, initially, of having a decision made by January.”

Davis added that was a draft timeline that would have to be extended.

Councilmember Cara Mendelsohn said her quick review of the 50 applicants led her to want to learn about more than a dozen of the names listed, which she planned to review over the weekend.

“I think getting us from fifty to four was too far of a leap,” Mendelsohn said. “Jumping ahead to four (semifinalists) is a shortcut. I’m not willing to take the shortcut.”

Atkins said the ad hoc committee would meet again on December 16 but did not provide an updated timeline for when an offer would be extended to a city manager finalist.