Keller City Council approved appointing Aaron Rector, administrative services director with the city, to be the interim during a special meeting Jan. 22. The council chose between Rector and Alonzo Linan, director of public works, who also applied for the job.
Current Keller City Manager Mark Hafner will retire at the end of February, and Rector will take the interim slot then, beginning Feb. 29. Hafner has served as city manager since June 2015. He has been with the city since 2001, previously leading the Keller Police Department as chief and public safety director, according to a city news release.
"I'm very excited for the opportunity and very appreciative to the council for appointing me the interim," Rector said after the meeting. "I look forward to working with the team and continuing the culture here and going toward the council's goal of being the most family-friendly city in Texas."
Rector will oversee his duties in administrative services while functioning as the interim city manager, said Rachel Reynolds, communication and public engagement manager for the city.
The details
Rector joined the city as its finance director in 2016 and was promoted in 2018 to director of administrative services, managing the finance, utility billing, information technology and communications departments, according to a news release.
Rector said he will shadow Hafner "more so than normal" during the next month. The council met in an executive session for an hour Jan. 22 before emerging and approving Rector.
Council members praised both candidates for the interim city manager job, with Tag Green saying the "qualities, abilities, gifts of both of you are so apparent, that it was not an easy choice." He said he didn't want the recommendation of one candidate to be construed as one individual being more capable than the other. He said appreciated them stepping up to help lead the city.
Mayor Armin Mizani said in a news release that Rector, through his work over the past eight years, "is uniquely positioned to understand City Council’s priorities when it comes to demonstrating fiscal responsibility while still providing world-class amenities and services.”
Zooming in
After the meeting, Mizani said the interim position will be evaluated, and then council will internally determine whether it needs to conduct a search or elevate the interim to the city manager.
"We haven't made a formal timeline, we haven't started a formal search," the mayor said. "This is just the interim who is going help us, guide us, along the way, and then we'll re-evaluate probably in the next four to five months."
A closer look
Before working in Keller, Rector spent three years with the town of Flower Mound and eight with the city of Cedar Park, located near Austin, the news release states.
