An exodus of Dallas City leaders who served under former City Manager T.C. Broadnax continued this week with the announcement that a deputy city manager and a chief of staff would be leaving the city in the next several weeks.
Deputy City Manager Jon Fortune and Chief of Staff to the City Manager Genesis D. Gavino will both leave the city within three weeks, according to a memo interim City Manager Kim Bizor Tolbert sent out to council members Monday.
Both will join Broadnax in Austin, according to a memo sent to Austin City Council on Monday.
Fortune will leave June 7 and will join Austin as the deputy city manager. Gavino’s last day will be May 31 and she will become a special assistant to the city manager there.
Fortune was involved in negotiations that affect law enforcement pay structures for police and firefighters and the city’s shelter program in the wake of hurricane Harvey. Fortune also oversaw the city’s COVID-19 testing and vaccinations centers. Among the departments he oversees are the Dallas Police Department, Dallas Fire-Rescue, the Dallas Marshal’s Office, Dallas Municipal Courts, the Office of Emergency Management and the Office of Integrated Public Safety Solutions.
When former city manager T.C. Broadnax announced his departure earlier this year, Jeff Patterson, President of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association told The Dallas Morning News the association had asked Fortune if he would consider stepping into Broadnax’s shoes. But Fortune declined, Patterson said.
Gavino led the launch of the city’s first Digital Navigators Program that/ was designed to bring internet connectivityto underserved communities. Gavino also worked with local school districts to sift through matching grants to get COVID-19 federal dollars. In 2020, Gavino was also the Resilience Officer in the Office of Equity and Inclusion.
Both joined the city hall in 2017.
Fortune and Gavino’s departures come days after Assistant City Manager Robert Perez was picked as the city manager in Topeka, Kansas. Majed Al-Ghafry, another official in the city’s top brass, is set to become DeSoto’s city manager after the DeSoto City Council votes on an agenda item to approve his employment agreement Tuesday.
Interim City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert recently dissuaded potential employers from making a play for police Chief Eddie García after reports surfaced that García was being courted by Houston and Austin. Last week, Garcia said he would be staying in Dallas at least until May 2027. City officials amended Garcia’s contract to give him a retention bonus of $10,000 every six months.